


The Summer People

by OlicitySmoaky



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Felicity Smoak's Extended Family, Felicity is a nanny for the summer, Fluff, Jealous Oliver, Kidnapping, No island, Romance, The Hamptons, Vigilantes to the rescue, summertime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-07-16 18:28:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7279204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlicitySmoaky/pseuds/OlicitySmoaky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Genius IT girl, Felicity Smoak, takes a trip to the Hamptons to take care of her movie-star cousin's kids for the summer and meets billionaire playboy Oliver Queen, who's lost his way within QC and with his relationship with his father. Felicity's disenchanted with her current life, too. She's just left a job at Wayne Enterprises and attempting to regroup at the beach. Will these two help the other find themselves or will they remain lost in the disenchanting world of the wildly idle rich? </p><p>***Yay for Arrow in the Hamptons. Fluffy but has action and a bad guy. ;)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Queens and a Movie Star

**Author's Note:**

> Note 1: This story is partially based on a story I wrote a long time ago in setting and situation. The rest is going to be Arrow AU summer fun. 
> 
> Note 2: Testing it out here to see if you guys want me to continue this. It will be my first Olicity multi-chapter story. 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @AlliWriterGirl; @OlicitySmoaky on Tumblr.
> 
> \------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ ](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

As the Hampton Jitney slid down Montauk Hwy, Felicity Smoak pondered a difficult equation: How did an MIT top-of-her-class graduate with two masters degrees (acquired by the age of twenty), plus two years of experience running the IT department at Wayne Enterprises, equal a summer job as a nanny? Not that being a nanny was beneath her in the sense of being a human being, but Felicity was meant for other things.

The bus pulled into Southampton depot. The passengers filed out one-by-one. The air was warm and muggy. Felicity stood on the sidewalk, trying to spot her Hollywood starlet cousin, Susan. She said she would come to get her, which shocked Felicity. Susan rarely did anything for herself, and Felicity wasn’t even sure that she drove. As she stood waiting, she saw a black Porshe pull up to the curb. Sure enough, it was Susan – painted up, model trashy without a trace of fat anywhere, except maybe in her collagen lips, Susan. Of course, she wasn’t behind the wheel. There was a captivatedly attractive man in that position. That came out wrong, didn’t it? She thanked God that no one was close enough to hear that particular unfiltered remark fall out of her mouth. Felicity had the tendency to mutter the things on her mind, particularly the embarrassingly inappropriate ones. Before she could dig herself further into a think-hole, a young girl with brown shoulder length hair in perfect summer dress and shoes, popped up beside her.

“Are you ready for it?” the girl asked smoothly, hitching a bright blue leather bag on her shoulder. Felicity recognized it as a Ferragamo. She had never had enough money to purchase one, but her mother had taught her about such things at an early age.

Felicity frowned. “Ready for what?”

“Summer in the Hamptons? I so am,” said the young woman. She looked to be about eighteen or so, possibly twenty.

“Felicity!” Susan squealed, waving her floppy sun hat like a flag. Felicity groaned. She certainly wasn’t ready for it. This was going to be a terrible summer.

“Looks like we’re sharing the same ride,” said the girl beside her.

"We are?” Felicity asked, perplexed.

“That’s my brother driving that car, and I take it you’re Felicity since you’re the only person shrinking back from the attention of Susan Fitzpatrick rather than gawking at her.”

The young woman held out her hand. “Thea Queen.”

Felicity blinked for a moment. Thea Queen? As in Queen Consolidated heiress to billions Thea Queen? What was she doing on the Hampton Jitney? Luxury bus or not.

“And that’s my brother Oliver,” Thea explained, gesturing toward the convertible.

Felicity’s gaze homed in on the handsome face of the man behind the wheel. “Oh, he’s very…”

“Yeah, so they say,” said Thea with a smirk. “I guess we better go. Susan looks… frustrated.”

Frustrated? She was with Oliver Queen. Felicity knew all about him since his father’s company had been one of the places she’d had her eye on for a job post-MIT. Or at least, that’s the excuse she gave herself for knowing all about the guy. She’d never admit that she spent study breaks reading TMZ headlines between Dr. Who episodes. She also would never admit that she found Oliver Queen incredibly hot. Ridiculous. Likely an asshole but extremely hot.

“Felicity, pumpkin pie! Hurry up!” Susan called with a dramatic pout. Susan’s personality reminded Felicity of a less down-to-earth and morally intact Cameron Diaz. Beautiful, dramatic, full of light, and did whatever she felt like. Unlike Cameron, Susan, who knew she shouldn’t have been a mother, had three children. No husband any more. That didn’t matter though. As far as Susan was concerned, that made her twenty-one again. And Susan was certainly not twenty-one.

Thea laughed out loud at Susan. “She’s a trip.”

“Yeah, I agreed to nanny for her this summer. I’m starting to think it was a big mistake,” said Felicity as they began toward the car.

“Why? You don’t like kids?” asked Thea.

“Wouldn’t know. Never really had the chance to babysit,” said Felicity. “I’ve spent the last twenty-two years of my life behind a book or a computer. She’s the only person with kids I really know.”

Thea lifted her eyebrow. “Well, if you need help…I guess give me a call. I’m not that good with kids either, but maybe we can make sense of the whole thing together,” she said, stopping behind the trunk of the car. Her comment surprised Felicity. Why would a billionaire heiress want to help a nanny? Probably an eccentricity of wealth.

Oliver popped out of the car and took their bags, securing them in trunk. He smiled at Felicity then winked. “All set, ladies,” he said as they all slipped into the car.

“Pumpkin,” Susan said leaning over the back and puckering her lips. Felicity turned her cheek, letting Susan slap a wet kiss on it. She immediately wiped her face. If it was one thing the women in her family had in common, Felicity included, was a propensity to wear gobbed on bright lipstick – usually red, pink or fuchsia. Susan turned to Thea. “Susan Fitzgerald. Nice to meet you.”

“Thanks. I’ve seen your movies. They’re great.”

“I like her,” Susan said to Oliver, who chuckled, flicking his eyes to his rear view mirror to look at Felicity. She swallowed. She’d never seen eyes like that before in her life. It was like they were looking straight through her and doing crazy things to her insides. She had to look away.

“Oliver, this is my perfect little cousin,” Susan said, her voice a bit sarcastic. Felicity pinched her lips together. She was not going to embarrass herself by replying. Susan was doing a good enough job for her already. She looked down into her lap. She really wasn’t used to feeling so small around people. She was strong-willed, held her own at work. But these people just weren’t the types of people she was used to – privileged and way too sure of themselves.

Oliver turned around. “Oliver Queen,” he said, which forced her to look up. She took his hand, trying hard to ignore the sensation that climbed over her skin at his touch. “You okay?”

Felicity blushed hard. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“Felicity, she’s always been a little – well, like I said, she’s our special girl, isn’t that right, Felicity?” Felicity groaned inwardly. Her cousin had a habit of half-giving her a compliment and half-insulting her. One of her favorite things seemed to be treating her like a socially awkward underdeveloped cute little genius girl. It irritated Felicity to no end. Her mother was Felicity’s aunt, and Susan, well, Susan was a movie star, an A-lister, which was something Felicity would never be. Sure, they both came from working-class existences, and Susan showed Felicity there was always a chance to change circumstances, but Felicity was more into what her mind could bring her, not her pretty face.

Oliver pulled the car out of the depot and took off down the highway, heading east.

“So, Ollie, where we going?” Thea asked enthusiastically.

“You are going to the house after I drop these lovely ladies off, then I am going out with Tommy.”

“And I can’t come why? I just spent two hours on a bus after finishing a god awful final this morning – I go to Barnard,” she side-noted to Felicity, “and I want to have fun.”

“Because you’re nineteen, Speedy, and we are going to a club.”

“Like that’s ever stopped me before,” she muttered, slumping back in the seat. “How old are you, Felicity?”

“I’m twenty-two,” she said, clearing her throat.

Oliver glanced at her in the rear view mirror again. It was getting a little unnerving.

“Maybe you should go with Ollie.”

Susan guffawed.

“What’s so funny? She’s old enough,” Thea replied. “My brother Ollie’s twenty-eight, so he thinks he rules the world. And Susan, you’re what? Forty-one?”

“Speedy…” Oliver warned.

“Maybe if you didn’t treat me like I was eleven…”

Susan chuckled. “I’m thirty-seven. But Felicity here’s a bit of a goody-two-shoes, isn’t that right, baby doll?” Before Felicity could respond Susan went on, “And little miss thing, I hear forty’s a riot. I, for one, can’t wait,” she said with a flick of her wrist. Felicity and Thea shared looks.

The rest of the car ride continued like this – Susan chirping the strangeness of her mind, Thea dryly quipping her comments at Oliver rather than Susan, Oliver chuckling, then stealing little glances Felicity in the rear view mirror. Was he wanting her to engage in the conversation? Did she have something on her face? Felicity decided to lock eyes on the sea of trees going by until they reached Susan’s compound.

“Bye, Oliver. Thanks for the ride,” Susan said, turning his face to hers and slapping a full kiss on his lips. If Felicity did not know better, she’d say that Oliver stiffened at the interaction. It was probably in her head. What guy wouldn’t want to kiss her perfect cousin? Even if his name was Oliver Queen.

“Nice meeting you, Thea. Let’s go, pumpkin,” Susan said, striding up the walk toward the massive front entrance to her Cape Cod-style mansion.

Before Felicity could follow, Thea called out. “Wait! Here’s my number. Call me and let’s hang out. It’ll be fun.” Felicity noticed she did not repeat her offer to help with the kids. Maybe she’d just said that.

“Sure,” Felicity replied. “If I have time, I guess.”

“Make time. Bye, Felicity!”

“Nice meeting you, Felicity,” said Oliver.

“You, too,” she said, urging the flush she felt rising up her cheeks to cool down then walked up the path into her new world.

***

As Oliver pulled away from Susan’s mansion, he tried blocking the impure thoughts he was having about the girl he’d just met. She was too young for him, right? A candidate for friendship with Thea. But she said she was twenty-two. She was grown. He half-wondered what Susan would think if he tried asking her out. If Felicity was anyone else, Susan wouldn’t have cared. She and Oliver weren’t together. Susan was about fun and the next good thing, but she seemed to be very opinionated about her cousin. He decided to forget the whole thing. He didn't even know the girl. She probably wanted to relax and get away for the summer. She wouldn't want to be pulled into his world. 

His phone flashed on the console coupled with the familiar sound of an in-coming text. Thea swiped it up. “It’s dad.”

“Ignore it.”

“It says, ‘you’re lucky you’re not six feet under, kid,’” Thea read the text off. “What did you do, Ollie?”

“It’s none of your business.” He wanted to tell her, but he couldn’t. He was afraid she’d look at him differently. Not that she didn’t know he was a screw-up. Everyone from the tabloid journalists to bartender at the Green Derby, a dive bar down the road, seemed to expect Oliver Queen to make a mess of things. His phone blooped with another text.

“This one says, ‘If it weren’t for your mother, I’d disinherit you. Just do me one favor. Keep your sister out of trouble this summer.’ What is that supposed to mean, Ollie? What happened?” asked Thea, her voice softer and less accusatory this time.

Oliver snapped the phone away from her. “It’s adult business, Thea.”

“When are you going to accept that I’m not a kid anymore, Ollie? Or better yet, that you’re not an adult,” she responded, arms folded and looking out of the window.

Oliver glared at her for a moment but couldn’t help but crack a smile. He loved his sister and was glad she was there with him. “I know you’re not a kid, but can you cut me some big brother slack?”

She turned, beaming at him. “Only if you promise not to take me to Hodown Hot Dogs before we head to the house.”

“Do you want Tommy to meet us there?” he asked. They both knew Hodown was Tommy’s favorite food stop outside of Big Belly Burger back home in Starling.

“Nah, let it just be us for now. I missed you, big brother.”

“Missed you, too, Speedy.”

“Next time we go, we can invite Tommy and Felicity.”

Oliver shot her a look.

“My friend, your friend. What’s wrong with that?” she asked a little too innocently, making Oliver wonder and somewhat worry about what was going through her mind. He hoped Thea wasn’t already playing matchmaker. She had this notion that Oliver just needed the right woman to straighten him out. She was such a kid. Oliver didn’t need anyone. He could take care of himself. But he was intrigued by Felicity. He wanted to know more about her, but at his own pace, not at the hands of his meddling little sister.

“Nothing at all,” Oliver replied. “Just behave yourself, and we’ll all be fine.”

“You follow that rule, and I’ll make sure to do the same.”


	2. Night Watch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver is clubbing. Felicity is babysitting. Not fair Oliver! Why do you get to have all the fun? Oh, wait, you're a brooding would be vigilante, so you can't have fun. Oh well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is simple but went in a direction I didn't expect it to. I hope you like it and keep wanting to read.

 

 

[ ](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

Slick bodies and the standard Friday night DJ filled Capri with movement and heat. Oliver stuck close to the bar settled in the cool air caught by the ocean breeze filtering in from the deck. Unfortunately, Oliver and the cool air weren’t the only things that had settled in that spot – a not-so-subtle red head pushed herself against him, her flirtation too over-the-top for even him during his frat boy days. “You know I heard you were dating Susan Fitzpatrick,” she purred, running a red nail down the center of his chest.

At this Oliver laughed. “I wouldn’t call it dating.” He removed her hand.

“Then what would you call it?” another voice fluttered into the conversation from behind him. Susan.

Oliver turned around. He didn’t know how to respond. Her tone had a layer to it he hadn’t heard before. It was slightly possessive. Oliver liked Susan well enough, but they saw each other as playthings, distractions. Nothing more. He had a lot on his mind at the moment. For example, what the hell was he going to do for a living now that he had been banned form Queen Consolidated?

“Hey, Oliver!” Oliver heard yet another a voice pierce through his bubble. “Why so glum?” asked his best friend Tommy Merlyn, who’d been happily eating the night up in his silver sports jacket and tank top underneath.

“I was just going to ask the same thing,” said Susan.

“I mean you’ve got two gorgeous ladies,” he noted with a sly raise of his eyebrows as he looked between the redhead and Susan.

The redhead, beamed and slinked closer to Tommy, who slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Tommy Merlyn, isn’t it?”

Tommy dipped his head close to hers then whispered in her ear. The red-head gasped and mock slapped his shoulder. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said to her, then turned to Oliver. “See you two love birds around.” Then they were gone.

Oliver knew Tommy could have half the women in the club. He’d chosen to take the redhead off Oliver’s hands for three reasons. 1) She was a sure thing, so score for Tommy. 2) She was not Oliver’s type, and his best friend knew that. 3) Tommy was intent on Oliver having fun this summer, and he insisted that fun came in the form of Susan Fitzpatrick.

“So, now that we’ve got them out of our hair,” Susan purred. “What do you say we go back to your place?”

“Not tonight, Susan,” Oliver said, spotting someone, parting the thickening crowd – Ted Kord. Oliver had been hoping to run into him. He wasn’t the biggest fan of the guy, but Oliver knew he pulled himself out of financial ruin before. Not that Oliver had ruined Queen Consolidated, but he certainly hadn’t helped it. “I need to go talk with someone,” he told Susan.

Susan looked over her shoulder, then turned back to him, brows high. “Ted Kord is dull. You and I both know that.” She slipped her hand into Oliver’s back pocket and nudged him close. “Dull, boring, and nothing like the two of us.”

Oliver pushed back from her. “You seem to be very opinionated about everyone today, Susan.”

She added even more distance, apparently stung by his suggestion. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Felicity,” he said simply, his mind filling with the young woman’s bright smile and intelligent but shy eyes.

“What about Felicity?” Susan snapped.

“She seems like a nice enough girl.”

“And?”

“And you treated her like she was a bit of a loser,” Oliver pointed out.

Susan rolled her eyes and looked away. Her false bravado melted away for a sliver of a moment, then she said on a quiet breath, “She’s not a loser.”

Oliver laughed out loud, making Susan frown, and to his surprise become defensive.

“She went to MIT. She’s a genius. I love her, why else would I have invited her?” Susan did not get that Oliver was not laughing at the idea of Felicity not being a loser but at the fact that Susan wasn’t calling her one.

“To babysit your kids so you can party maybe?” Oliver asked, his left brow high on his forehead.

“I could have hired a service if I wanted to do that. She asked me if she could come. I said yes. Don’t make me into a villain.” This was the most real Oliver had ever seen his would-be Hamptons summer fuck-buddy. He liked it, but not enough to want to be with her in a big way. He had a lot of other things on his mind. Romance was the least of them. He pushed down the image of Felicity filling his mind again. No. She was a nice girl. That was all.

“I’m sorry. I’m just stressed,” Susan said. “Why don’t we go home so I can take the edge off?”

Oliver looked over at Ted Kord. He was in full-on schmooze-mode and all of a sudden Oliver was not up to it. He was here for the summer. That was all he needed to know. He’d get back to him later. Oliver looked at Susan. “All right. Let’s go--”

Before he could finish his thought, Susan’s phone rang. “Hold that thought,” she said, snatching it out of her small beaded handbag. “What? It’s fine, Felicity. I know, but—Oh, all right then. I’ll be right there.” Susan pressed her lips into a tight line.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked, his concern spiking for a little more than it should for a few kids he didn’t know too well and a girl he’d just met that afternoon.

“Felicity’s having a hard time with Monroe,” Susan explained, noting her thirteen-year-old and oldest child.

Oliver chuckled. “I’m not surprised. Didn’t you tell me that everybody has a hard time with Monroe?”

“This definitely not the time to try and be cute,” she said, sounding extremely put out. Oliver was more than sure it had everything to do with Susan having to take real-life responsibility and very little to whatever was going on at home. “Rain check?” she asked him.

“How bout I drive you?” Oliver found himself asking for some reason. He pushed down the stirring that grew inside of him when he thought about seeing Felicity again. He wasn’t some schoolboy with a crush. Actually, Oliver had never been that person. In high school and the four failed attempts at college, he’d taken on the big man on campus persona. He was Oliver Queen after all. Even that sounded too douche-baggy for his mind. He wasn’t that person any more. He’d spent the last three years trying to prove that to his father, then he’d gone and screwed that up. “Let’s go.”

He made his way out of the club with Susan. Tommy fist-pumping him in the distance. Oliver chuckled, shaking his head. At least, he was getting out of there for the night. It really was no longer his scene.

***  
“Susan!” Felicity called from the arch of the front door as the same Porsche that had picked her up from the bus depot pulled around the darkened circular driveway to the front of the house. Oliver Queen. Again. Susan spilled out of the car, cheeks pink—likely from irritation rather than worry. Felicity’s eyes flicked to Oliver, who came around to stand next to Susan, and swallowed. The tall well-built man stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down bashfully for a moment before looking back up at her. Felicity blinked away the surge of heat his action caused her. She had no time to be unnerved by a billionaire playboy. Monroe’s virtue was at stake. “I didn’t know what to do. She won’t listen to me. I’m sorry to have called, but some of the boys are drinking, and I know that’s not okay.”

“What boys?” Susan asked.

Felicity caught Oliver chuckling. What was so funny about underage drinking? Maybe Felicity wasn’t going to like this guy after all. And why did he look like he was checking her out a second ago if he was Susan’s boyfriend? Which he apparently was. He was with her again.

Felicity followed Susan through the expansive foyer, through the living room and out into the back of the house. Susan marched over to the pool, hot tub and cabanas. At least, her cousin seemed upset, which was a relief to Felicity. Maybe she did care about her kids.

“Hot movie star mama!” one of the boys cat called from his spot in the hot tub.

“Shut up, jerk,” said Monroe, shoving the boy’s shoulder and blushing hard. Monroe was slightly pudgy with a round face and button nose. Her hair flowed down her back in brown wavy spirals normally, but tonight, she had it tied in two braids over her bronze shoulders. She tried her damnedest to be glamorous like her mother but at the same time to be her own person. Felicity could see their resemblance around her eyes and mouth, which was painted blood red at the moment, but to most people the mother and daughter pair couldn’t have looked more different. On top of that, Felicity knew it couldn’t be easy growing up with self-involved Susan as a mother. That still did not give the girl the right to give Felicity such hell.

“Felicity said I could have friends over, mom!” What?

Susan wheeled on Felicity. “I told you she could have one friend. One!”

Felicity balked. _She was getting reprimanded?_ “I didn’t know she was going to invite all this.” She waved her hand around uselessly at the group of teenagers. Cat call boy pulled Monroe into his lap.

“See, blondie, you could have just joined us and we could have skipped all this.”

“All right, that’s enough,” Oliver said, stepping around Felicity. “You kids need to go.”

“Says who, grandpa?” the boy asked.

Oliver did not reply. Instead, he folded his arms across his massive chest. Instantly, the thin boy lifted his hands in surrender. Though he had not spoken, Felicity could feel the intensity of the promise his eyes were making to the boy. She was glad she wasn’t the target.

“Okay, okay.” The boy released Monroe. “Come on, guys,” he said to the others.

Susan lifted her eyebrows at the boy after he’d gotten out of the water and thrown a towel around his waist, the breeze of the night not seeming to have any effect on him. “If I see you around my daughter again, I will be calling your parents.” Felicity had never seen her face so red. After throwing out a few fifteen-year-old beer-drinking boys and chewing out Monroe’s girlfriends, whom Susan asked Felicity to call cabs for, Susan took Monroe upstairs to give her a “talking to.”

The excitement that belonged more to her thirteen-year-old cousin than to Felicity was replaced with a cold night, discarded beer bottles and plastic cups. Felicity moved to clean them up when Oliver Queen’s voice stopped her.

“She’ll have someone to clean that up tomorrow,” he said.

Felicity whipped around on him. “I’m not even doing this right, then?”

Oliver squinted his eyes. “I’m sorry?”

“I didn’t mean anything,” said Felicity, voice too weary and hollow for someone her age. She’d been through so much these past few months and waiting on spoiled kids was probably not the best idea she’d had when her goal had been regrouping and recouping.

“You must be tired,” Oliver noted, studying her in a way that made her flush.

But she straightened her back and laughed it off, an art she’d mastered at the company socials while working at Wayne. “You’re very astute, Mr. Queen. It’s been a long day.”

“You should head up to bed then,” he said, his voice soft and kind. She didn’t think billionaire playboys did soft and kind. It made her smile a little and lower her walls a bit.

“I am tired, and I’m completely thinking this was the worst idea I’ve ever had in my entire life.” She started picking up the plastic cups.

“Need some help?” She was surprised to hear him ask.

“No. Like you said. What’s the point?” She set the cups down and slumped into a lounge chair. “I just wanted to come here to … reboot, you know? Things didn’t work out at my last job or with my last boyfriend, and I—This is totally TMI, sorry. Not TMI in the I’m grossing you out sort of way, but in the why the heck would you care about some nerdy nobody’s life problems when you’re Oliver Queen sort of way?”

“I'm not that shallow, Felicity," he said without malice or defensiveness. 

They were quiet for a moment. It was awkward but not entirely uncomfortable. “She seems like a good mom,” said Felicity after a moment. “Better than I thought anyway.”

“Really?” Oliver asked.

“I guess she just surprised me tonight. My mom and her mom are always on about her being the world’s worst mother. They’re ones to talk.”

Oliver shrugged. “The problem with Susan is she spends her time putting out fires rather than preventing them.”

Felicity laughed, standing up and heading back into the house. Oliver trailed close behind. She didn’t know if she should go to the door or sit down and wait with him until Susan came back. He decided for her when he took a seat on a bar stool in front of the wetbar.

“Would you like anything?” Felicity asked him.

“No. I’m good. Thanks,” he replied.

“So you were saying Susan spends her time putting out fires rather than preventing them, huh? You seem to know a lot about raising kids,” Felicity said, clearing her throat, standing a good distance away from him in the middle of the room. “You have any?”

“No, just parents who let me do too much. Then when I did the wrong thing, they tried to put the fear of God in me. Didn’t stop me from screwing up again, though. It’s hard when you have so much so young.”

“Poor little rich boy,” she said, instantly regretting it. That was mean. She shouldn’t judge him for something he couldn’t help. But she’d grown up with barely anything and made something of herself – that was until, Aiden Knox came along. She and Aiden worked on projects together, then he'd take all the credit. Felicity was no stranger to the phenomenon. Her college boyfriend, Cooper had done the same thing to her in so many different and terrible ways. Aiden was like Cooper, a genius, a wizard of tech. He'd charmed her into bed, wined her and dined her, then with a smile left her in the dust. She'd tried working on projects of her own only to get shut down when it came to funding. Finally, she'd had it. Aiden had been promoted to head of the department off of a code she'd created on her own. It was 2016, not 1966, but apparently, in Gotham, that didn't matter, at least not at a corporation where the old boys' network was still firmly in place. She needed freedom, that much she knew, but now that she had it, she had no idea what to do with it. Oliver regarded her as her brain flew through its tangent.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, just thinking. Anyway, I didn’t mean to call you a spoiled brat, or I didn’t say that, did I? I just called you a poor little rich boy, which might be worse. It was rude. I just shouldn’t have said it, and I’m sorry. Even more sorry for rambling. I do that sometimes.”

Oliver licked his lips then smiled a little. “Nothing to apologize for,” he said, then looked as if he too had fallen onto a mind train chugging down a reflective track. He returned to the moment quickly. “I know I shouldn’t be complaining, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much. With my parents,” he explained.

“They spoil you then go psycho?"

“Something like that,” he chuckled. Felicity shifted her gaze to the floor when his eyes seemed to move over her face.

“My mother was never too keen on discipline,” she said nervously, “but she was always super over-protective. I guess it worked out for her that I was a big geek. Less gray hairs.”

“Makes sense,” he replied. A long pause grew and grew until Oliver remembered himself again. “I’m sorry.

“What are you apologizing for? For being one of the good guys?”

Oliver shrugged as he looked down at his shoes. “Not exactly.” Before he could respond further, Felicity asked --

“What do you like to do, Oliver? I’m just curious. You know being you.”

“Planning to do an exposé and sell it to People Magazine?”

“You never know.”

“Physical things,” he provided.

Heat teased her senses as visual images of Oliver's physicality filled her mind. She cleared her throat. “Excuse me?”

“You know? Boxing, running, parkour, archery…”

Wow. She was impressed, although not surprised. With a body like his, he had to be active. “Archery? You mean like Robin Hood.”

He grinned this time, and Felicity’s heart flipped. His dimples dipped so deeply into his face, his eyes twinkled. God, she could look at his face all day. No, she did not say that. She did not even think it. Rewind, back it up, Felicity. “Something like that,” he said, chuckling. The little laugh fell from his sexy mouth on a breath.

She bit her lip and looked away. This was Susan’s boyfriend. Susan’s, not hers – not that the likes of Oliver Queen could ever be plain old Felicity Smoak’s anything. “Well, I promised the little ones I’d read them a story,” she informed him abruptly.

Oliver looked startled for a moment. “Okay,” he said, standing up. “I’ll leave you to it. Tell them I said hi.” She walked him to the door and opened. Letting the ocean air waft in.

“Goodnight, Felicity.”

“Goodnight, Oliver.”

Before she could close the door, he turned back around. “Thea wanted me to tell you that, um, a bunch of us are going to the beach Friday for lunch and volleyball and whatnot. You can bring the kids, if you want to come.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Susan, too, right?”

“Of course,” he said, looking suddenly as if he was hiding something Felicity did not know.

“How did Thea know you’d see me today?”

“I have no idea,” said Oliver.

Felicity also had no idea why Thea hadn’t just texted her about it. Oliver gave her a small smile.

“Okay,” he said, clearing his throat then turning to head to his car. “See you maybe Friday?”

“See you, Oliver.”

She watched him drive off into the blackened night. _That was strange._ Before she could turn back inside, a young boy and girl popped out of the front door.

“He likes you,” the little girl announced.

“He’s your mom’s boyfriend, Harlan,” Felicity said with a flush.

“He is?” Harlan asked.

“I don’t think so,” said her brother, Deville.

“Why don’t you think so?” Felicity asked.

“You said you’d watch Batman with us,” Deville said, pulling her hand. Apparently, he'd grown bored of the whole Oliver and Felicity thing. "Batman is god!"

"I don't know about that, but it is my favorite," little Harlan declared.

Batman? Of course, they'd want to watch a movie set in Gotham based on a fictionalized version of the job she was trying to forget. “I said I read you a story,” she reminded him.

“Then we said we’d rather watch Batman. Come on. We can watch in the playroom upstairs." The fraternal nine-year-olds had a playroom that connected both their bedrooms upstairs. 

“All right, but only half tonight, half tomorrow. It’s getting late,” she told them as they cheered. She was doing this wrong, too, she knew, but they were kids, and it was the summer. Besides, watching a movie would give her plenty of time to day dream about Oliver Queen and why he’d seemed so nervous around her. Maybe he did like her. But that couldn’t be. He had Susan.

“Felicity!” Susan called out. “Oh, good. I caught you. Tomorrow, I forgot to tell you, but I’ll be heading out to the city, and – What are you two doing up?” she asked, looking down at the curly haired duo.

“We’re about to watch Batman with Felicity.”

“It’s not Dark Knight Rises is it? I was supposed to get that role, but Anne Hathaway—“

“No, it’s the new one,” Deville explained quickly. "The one that's coming out next month. They sent you a screener."

"And you just opened my mail?"

Deville shrugged. 

“You know that's a crime," said Felicity. The kid did not look like he cared. And she was one to talk with all the hacking she did -- well, used to do -- for very important causes. She turned to Susan. "Do you want them to go to bed?” Felicity asked. “I can—“

“I’m not that into bed times. It’s the summer. I suppose Oliver left right after I went up with Monroe.”

“Yeah, he did,” Felicity lied. He’d lingered with her for at least twenty minutes, but Susan didn’t need to know that. It wasn’t important.

“So tomorrow, I leave for meetings then I have a reshoot that’s going to last God knows how long. So I’m trusting, you Felicity.”

After what had happened with Monroe, she was trusting her already. “Just want you to look after the kids extra special. Don’t let Monroe get into trouble, and keep my babies safe.” Her phone rang. She picked up, then mouthed ‘business’. At eleven o’clock at night? Susan held up a finger before Felicity could talk and headed into her office and closed the door.

“Marshmallows!“ shouted Deville.

“Whipped cream—“ Harlan supplied.

“Chocolate!” they cried in unison. Feliicty would not give in to their dimpled cheeks.

“Water and carrots. It’s too late for junk,” said Felicity. Maybe she wouldn’t be so terrible at this after all. Her mind returned to Oliver. The beach? She could do the beach. But maybe she should stay away. She didn't want to give Oliver the wrong idea. Of course, there was no idea. Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak could be friends, at most. She was sure he didn't even want that beyond pleasantries. She was a hundred percent sure...maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos make me smile/Comments are lovely. Thank you.


	3. Beach Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day at the beach! A simple chapter featuring more Olicity getting to know each other. More fun to follow.

 [](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

With two cherubs in tow and a teenager to look out for via text-watch, IT-girl turned nanny Felicity Smoak trudged along the sandy beach shielding the beating sun from her face with the flat of her hand. She wore a black and white one-piece that reminded her of a really cute 1960s movie she loved and a lace-white dress cover up that stopped mid-thigh. She spotted a familiar face sitting beneath a large yellow and white umbrella on one of several beach chairs lined up in the sand a few paces in front of a house behind her. The house in question was tall but simple, nothing like Susan’s compound. Felicity was looking forward to a relaxing day and letting the kids have some fun. Monroe was with her pre-approved best friend and her mother for that afternoon. Of course, the knots in Felicity's stomach at the idea of running into Oliver Queen really weren't helping her out with the whole wanting to relax thing. But as far as she could see, he wasn't there.

“Hey Thea,” said Felicity when she reached the familiar face. “Is this your place?”

“Felicity! Hi,” she said, looking up from the book she was reading, then propping her sunglasses on top of her head. “No, it’s Tommy Meryln’s. He should be on his way. We do this every Friday. Sorta touch base while we’re out here, invite new friends, relax. Glad you could make it.”

Felicity nodded, wondering if Oliver would be showing up as well. “This is Harlan,” she said introducing the little girl holding her hand. “And that’s Deville,” Felicity finished as Harlan’s twin beat toward the water, pleasantries lost on him.

Thea laughed, gesturing to the empty beach chair beside her. Felicity settled on to it with Harlan sitting on the end.

“So, Ollie told me he invited you. I’m so proud of him,” said Thea.

Felicity frowned at her statement. Oliver told her that Thea had been the one to invite her. Why would he lie about that? Felicity shrugged it off.  “The kids really wanted to come, so I figured—“

“Sure. Sure.”

“I’m gonna go play with Dev,” Harlan informed Felicity, obviously having grown bored with the adult conversation.

“Okay. You two be careful,” Felicity told her before she ran off to join her brother. When Felicity turned her attention back to Thea, she found the younger woman’s attention focused her iPhone. Her fingers flew over the device until she looked up with a smirk.

“Boyfriend?” Felicity asked.

Thea shrugged a shoulder. “Not yet. He’s a waiter at the yacht club,” she supplied in a tone that made it sound as if she’d just told Felicity the guy murdered someone rather than had a decent job.

“Is there something wrong with that?” asked Felicity. Her mother was a waitress, too, after all.

“Not to me,” said Thea, “but my family can be weird. Well, my parents. Ollie’s not like that. They’re just old, I guess." Felicity could tell Thea was really upset by the whole thing.

“Maybe you shouldn’t make your decisions based on them,” Felicity offered.

“It’s not always easy,” said Thea, looking down at her lap.

“Yeah. I got that impression from Oliver.”

Thea smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. The pair watched the children chase waves for a while before speaking again.

“So, is he coming?” Felicity asked, hating that the question made her flush. “Oliver, I mean.”

Thea waggled her eyebrows. “You have a crush on him, don’t you?”

“No,” Felicity said quickly. “He just said he was coming, and I thought, I don’t know. He’s with my cousin, or I think he is and—“

“Are you really that naïve?” Thea laughed. “You look like the cute girl next door type so you could be, though if there’s anything I’ve learned in my life it’s that looks can be deceiving.”

Before Felicity could respond, Harlan’s cry broke into the conversation in the distance.

“Felicity!” Harlan shouted. “Deville! Deville, come back!”

“Oh my God!”  Felicity and Thea stood up and ran toward the kids. Felicity pulled off her cover up when they go to the shore and gave it to Thea. Harlan’s hands were flapping up and down frantically as Deville tried swimming back to the shore but seemed taken further out. “Don’t swim against the current. Stay still.” Felicity dove in, pulling herself closer to the shaken little boy. 

“Felicity, help!” she heard as she came above the water.

“It’s okay, Deville,” she said, as the water settled for a moment. She got to him and swam him gently back to shore. His breathing was heavy, but soon his started to calm down. Felicity smoothed his wet hair over his head. “This happened to me a few times when I was younger. You have to make sure not to go too far in, okay?”

Deville nodded. "I will. I'm sorry."

“Do you want to go home?” Felicity hugged him close. 

“No,” he said, pulling away from her a bit. She studied his face. His cheeks definitely had color in them. 

“Wanna build sand castles?” Harlan asked. She knew her brother well. He nodded, took her hand and as if nothing at all had happened ran up the slope toward where Felicity and Thea had been sitting.

“These kids are going to kill me. I swear to God,” said Felicity.

Thea laughed. "Like I said, any time you need help with them, I'm there. Ice cream night, movie night. Oh, or we could do Lemonade with Lucy. That would be fun!"

It was Felicity's turn to laugh. "What's that?" she asked as they started up the beach at a leisurely pace, Felicity keeping her eyes pinned on the kids as Thea explained.

"Our housekeeper Raisa used to make the most delicious lemonade in the summertime. One day, I was watching I Love Lucy, which was a favorite of Raisa's too, when Ollie showed up. I think he was about eighteen at the time. He saw what fun we were having and suggested we marathon it the next week with Raisa's lemonade as the star attraction. So he ordered the complete series, and eventually, we had our marathon. I was about nine, I guess."

"That's how old the twins are," said Felicity.

"See! Perfect! We should do it. That is if they like Lucy. But who doesn't right?"

Felicity certainly did. The old show was no Dr. Who, but it definitely made her laugh. She wondered if she could get Monroe to join them. She really wanted Susan's older daughter to start opening up to her, too. There was a sadness inside her. Felicity wasn't sure she could fix it, but she wanted her to know she was there for her. 

When they reached their beach chairs again, Oliver was there in just his swim trunks and sunglasses, holding a picnic basket.

“Hi,” he said to Felicity, dropping the picnic basket into a chair. “You’re shivering. Which one is yours?” he asked looking at the set of towels she brought. “The pink one with the computer chips on it.” He handed it to her and she wrapped it around her body.

“Hello, to you, too, Ollie,” Thea said, left eyebrow lifted and a small smile on her lips.

“Hey, Thea. Everything okay? What happened?”

“Deville went a little too far out, but he’s fine.”

Oliver looked at over at the kids digging a deep hole in the sand.

“Looks like it.” Oliver chuckled.

“Still, I wonder if I should take him home.”

“Nah. Let him have his day," said Oliver. He was right. The kids had been missing their mother a lot, and it was summertime. They deserved to have fun. Felicity just needed to make sure she kept a closer eye on them. 

Thea’s phone rang. She picked up immediately, blushing. “I’m gonna take this, you guys. I’ll be right back,” she said, before walking a little further up the beach before exchanging words with whomever was on the other end of the line. Oliver took a seat on the beach chair on the other side of Felicity rather than the one on the opposite of Thea’s chair.

After a bit of an awkward silence, Oliver spoke, “Oh, I’m sorry. Would you like anything to drink or eat? I have stuff in the basket.”

“No, thank you.”

“Okay, well, how’ve you been?” asked Oliver.

“Good. I mean, I like it here. I’m not really getting to relax as much as I’d thought with the kids, but I’m getting to know them. They’re great.”

“I’m sure they love you,” he said quietly.

“Thanks.” They shared an easy conversation for a few moments. She loved the way he’d laugh on a little breath when he caught her babbling a little too much. If Susan had a thing for Oliver, Felicity did not blame her. No, she couldn’t think things like that. It wasn’t right. Feeling the heat of the sun, Felicity pulled out some sun block and reapplied it. When she looked back at Oliver, she noticed his eyes focused on the movement of her fingers. She snatched her hand back. “Maybe I should put some more on the kids, too. Be right back.”

When she returned, Oliver was on the phone and Thea was heading back toward them. Unlike Thea, Oliver did not seem to feel the need to move to have his conversation privately.

“Ted, yeah. I can meet with you later tonight. Dinner sounds great. Okay. I just have some ideas. No problem. Thank you.”

“Hot date?” Felicity joked.

“No,” Oliver chuckled. “Just some business.” He locked eyes with her for a beat, and something seemed to pass between them, something that made her insides a little too gooey in her mind.

“Hey, bud!” Tommy called out. Two leggy models with very buoyant looking breasts sashayed beside him – one in a red and white striped bikini, the other in emerald green. Christmas in July? Felicity thought.

“Oliver Queen,” Emerald green said, sliding into the chair beside him. “You look even better in person. Eden Powell.”

“Thanks,” he muttered. “Nice to meet you.”

“And this is my friend, Candy,” said Eden indicating the other woman.

If Felicity hadn’t felt so inadequate next to the rail thin beauties, she would have laughed. The woman seriously matched her swim suit with her name? Then again, maybe she’s got an inner geek inside. The woman pulled two lounge chairs around to make an L so that she and Tommy could face the rest of them when they sat down. She did all this so fluidly it looked like she was floating. When Felicity turned to look at Oliver, she was surprised to find him staring at her. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

Oliver laughed. “No. Your face looks perfect.”

Felicity blushed.

“Hi, everybody!” Thea said, breaking the moment with her cheery voice. “Thea Queen.” She introduced herself to the two ladies.

“Thea, this is Eden and that's Candy,” Tommy said, gesturing between both women. “We met last night at Kord’s party. Surprised you weren’t there, man. I thought you wanted to talk to Kord--”

Oliver shot Tommy a look that said shut up or die and Felicity wondered why.

“I actually had to go to the city for a couple of days. I just got back this morning.”

“You keep too many secrets from me, man,” said Tommy, looking pointedly down at Felicity.

Before either Thea or Oliver could introduce Felicity, the one named Eden chimed in. “So you a friend of the Queens?”  

“Sort of. I’m nannying for Susan Fitzpatrick this summer.”

“Oh,” she said as if Felicity had just dropped a mud-caked elephant into their exclusive little bubble on the beach.

“Are you from Tree Line?” her friend, Candy, asked with a kinder tone. “My mother uses them. They are fantastic.”

“No. What’s that?” Felicity asked.

“A nanny service,” Candy explained. “Best in Suffolk County.”

“No. I'm not with a service,” said Felicity. “I’m Susan’s cousin.”

“Oh. Oh!” Candy exclaimed as if suddenly what Felicity said made everything all right. Now, they could talk to her like a person. What snobs. No wonder Thea was worried about her new potential boyfriend being around people like this. “Are you first cousins? Just doing this to get away?”

“Something like that,” said Felicity.

Candy laughed. “Totally understand. Not that I’ve ever had to babysit. I’ve been on the runway since I was fourteen.”

“How nice for you,” Felicity muttered.

“Felicity actually graduated from MIT at twenty," said Oliver. "She’s a tech genius according to Susan.”

“So the rumors are true!” Eden said. “Oliver Queen and Susan Fitzpatrick!”

"You know, Candy," Thea cut in, "I never heard of the Tree Line nanny service. Is it new?"

"A couple years old, but everyone loves it according to my mom."

Thea frowned. "Huh. Times change. Well, Susan's lucky she has Felicity. She doesn't have to worry about using a service...Of course, if Felicity wants to take a night off to hang with us, maybe we could give them a call."

Candy's friend laughed as if she thought the idea was cute but would never happen. Felicity opened her mouth to give her a piece of her mind, when--

Oliver cleared his throat, then clapped his hands together. “You hungry? I made us some chicken sandwiches,” he said, opening the top of the picnic basket that turned out to actually be a cooler with a picnic basket design. “Not sure there’s enough, but—"

“I’ll see if the kids want any,” Felicity said, getting up again, but Oliver stopped her.

“No, I’ll get them," he said. The kids didn't hesitate to follow Oliver back to the chairs and towels. Felicity had a feeling they thought of him as some sort of a hero, not that he'd exhibited heroic qualities beyond helping Susan kick those extremely rude teenage boys out of the house the other night. But there was something about him.

The sandwiches were heaven. “What’s in this, Oliver? I have to say I’m impressed,” Felicity commented starting on the second half. She'd been too indulgent to speak while eating the first bit.

“It’s a Tequila-lime chicken sandwich with guacamole and chipotle mayo,” said Oliver.

“And you made this yourself?” asked Felicity.

Oliver nodded proudly.

"I might gain fifty pounds eating cooking like this, calories be damned," said Felicity.

The girls with Tommy giggled somewhat derisively at the comment.

“He took a cooking class,” Thea supplied as if she hadn't heard their jeers, “And Raisa, our housekeeper, made sure we knew our way around the kitchen. Ollie was always more interested in it than I was. He helps make Thanksgiving dinner every year now.”

Oliver shrugged a shoulder. “It’s nothing.” If Felicity didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was blushing. But she knew better. It was all in her head. Thirty minutes tops, then they’d head back.

***

Tommy tried making small talk as they ate. Oliver’s eyes were only for Felicity. When they’d finished, the kids ran back to their castle building. Harlan’s structure was nearly three feet high at that point while Deville had dug an impressive moat. Felicity got up to follow them.

Oliver had never felt so uncomfortable in his life. He had this amazing girl within his reach, and he had no idea how to talk to her, which did not make sense. With his experience and the number of relationships he’d had, it should have been easy, but there was just something about her. She was beautiful in the most unassuming way. She'd been wearing glasses with her hair up the first time he'd met her, the second time it had been glasses with her hair down, and today, the third time he'd had the pleasure of being with her, she wore her ponytail sans glasses -- veritable and gorgeous every time. He swallowed watching her tickle Susan's daughter, her laughter warming the cold in his heart. Maybe that was all this was, he was seeking a balm to soothe the past few weeks away. But as he watched Felicity, he was almost certain that was not fully the case. There was more to her, layers that made her special. He didn't know what those were yet, but he was determined to find out.

“You’re such a loser,” Thea said, peeling Oliver out of his reverie.

“What?” he asked.

“Go help her,” she said, looking up from her book.

“What makes you think she wants my help?”

“Fine. Be a dope.”

The girl Candy touched Oliver’s arm. “You work out a lot. I can tell,” she started.

He noticed Felicity looking back at him. “I do. Yes. Thanks,” he said, getting up and heading toward Felicity, feeling Thea’s smirk following him as he went.

It turned out to be a great decision. They built and tore down several amazing sand towers and Oliver even found himself getting buried a couple of times by the kids. Felicity laughed the hardest at these moments, a sound he realized he wanted to hear again and again. As the sun started to set, Oliver looked behind them, realizing that Tommy and the two ladies had gone – probably to get ready for Friday night in the Hamptons, and Thea had fallen asleep.

“Come on, kids. Let’s pack up,” Felicity said. They moaned their displeasure, but Oliver could see they were getting tired. “We have to go check on your sister.”

Oliver helped them get their things together. “I had fun,” he told her. “We should…um, that is, if you’d like to…Maybe without the kids…”

“Yo, Ollie!” he heard from the landing of the house. Tommy dressed in khaki cargos and a polo shirt looked down at from his place at least a story above them. “We got plans!”

“I’m sleepy,” Harlan said, rubbing her eyes.

“Okay, sweetie,” Felicity said, taking her hand. “Thanks for everything, Oliver. Tell Thea I’ll call her later if she wants.”

“Yeah, of course,” he said, scratching the back of his neck, as he watched Felicity head back up the beach with the kids.

After a few minutes, he heard Tommy’s voice again, “Now, that the adorkable little blonde is gone, can we get down to having some real fun?”

***

Felicity heard Tommy’s comment as she walked away. She’d had a nice day, but was she really cut out to be a part of Oliver and Thea's world?

Apparently, Oliver seemed to think so. The next morning, she woke up in her very comfortable bed to find a text from an unknown number. She snatched her phone up from the nightstand, and snuggled back under the covers.

**I’d like to take you to dinner. There’s a great place in Montauk I know. If you like Italian, everybody likes Italian.**

**By the way, it’s Oliver.**

“I love Italian,” she muttered to herself with a sigh. Her heart clenched. Oliver Queen was asking her out, but she couldn’t go, could she? It would be wrong. What about Susan? She’d be home in a few days.

**And don’t be weirded out. Thea gave me your number.**

_I’m not weirded out at all, Oliver. I’d love to go to dinner with you._

**Perfect.**

_But I can’t._

**Why not?**

_Susan._

**She and I aren’t together, Felicity.**

They weren’t? Was he just saying that to get her to say yes? Not the Oliver she’d spent the day with. He was kind and sincere. Even if they weren’t dating Susan had been with him in some way. Felicity didn’t know how her cousin would feel about her swooping in and stealing her man way. Felicity balked at the notion of her stealing a man away from Susan. But she wanted to go so badly. She really liked Oliver, and her day at the beach with him and the kids had been amazing, but she couldn’t.

_Still, it doesn’t feel right. I’m sorry, Oliver._

A long uncomfortable pause followed as the sound of the front door opening filtered into her room. “Kids! Felicity! I’m back early!” Susan sing-songed from the foyer, then added, “Just for a couple days so don’t get too excited!”

Felicity listened as doors flew open and little feet ran down the stairs. “Mom!”

Then her phone chimed again.

**I’m sorry, too, Felicity. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.**

If she changed her mind? Why did he have to go and leave the ball in her court like that? Why couldn't he have just let her shut it down and accept the no? "Because, Felicity, that's the last thing you want him to do. Admit it," she said to herself. She threw the covers off and went to the vanity, studying her reflection. "I'm so screwed."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos are lovely. Comments are adored. 
> 
> Thank you everyone for keeping me motivated and taking a chance on this story. I'm hoping to finish it around Labor Day. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
> 
> Coming soon: Jealous Oliver.


	4. Too Much Texting; Too Many Billionaires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity runs into Oliver while out with the kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the amazing responses, everyone. I'm so happy you're interested in reading it and getting into the characters and story. I would love to keep hearing from you throughout. It's really a great pleasure. Thank you again. I'm really falling in love with this story as it goes.

 [](http://tinypic.com?ref=qx8kt4)

“This place is really good, you guys,” Monroe said as her finger slipped down the menu in front of a seafood bistro on the restaurant strip she’d begged Felicity to take them that afternoon. Felicity’s eyes widened when she saw the prices. It didn’t exactly seem like a place for kids who’d just come from morning swim lessons. “I know exactly what I’m getting,” Monroe announced opening the door and sliding inside without waiting for Felicity to respond.

“Do you see anything you want on the menu?” Felicity asked the twins.

“They’ll make us burgers. I’ve been here with mom before,” supplied Deville.

“You mean, _we’ve_ been here with mom before,” Harlan corrected him.

“Are burgers what you want? We don’t have to do everything your sister says,” Felicity told him.

“We know,” said Deville. “But it’s just easier to go along with her sometimes.”

Felicity did not like that attitude, but she had Susan’s credit card, Monroe was already inside and the menu looked extremely delicious. That did not mean she wasn’t going to have a serious talk with Monroe about consideration for other’s feelings as soon as they’d ordered.

Felicity and the kids were directed to a table on the patio lounge where they found Monroe already sipping on an iced tea. “Got you guys some waters,” the teen declared.

Before she sat down, Felicity spotted a familiar face two tables in front of them wearing a small smile and nodding to the man he was with. “Oliver,” she whispered to herself.

“Oliver? Where?” asked Harlan, head snapping up, brown eyes wide.

“Shh.” Felicity’s face warmed. For some reason, she was not ready for him to notice her, but it was too late. Oliver looked up, eyes widening until his mouth gave into a full blown smile.

Harlan waved frantically at him. Oliver gave her a little wave in return. His dining companion didn’t look much older than him. It looked like they were talking business judging by the sober expression Oliver took on when he focused his attention back on the gentleman. Felicity wondered if this was the lunch appointment she’d heard him scheduling that day at the beach.  

“I wanna go say hi to Oliver,” Harlan announced, jumping out of her chair.

“It looks like he’s having a business meeting,” Felicity said, clutching the girl’s hand before she could bolt. “Sit back down."

Harlan crawled back into her seat with a frown. “Aww. I want to say hi,” she said, settling in, arms crossed in a huff.

“You’re such a baby,” said Deville. “What makes you think Oliver wants to talk to you anyway?”

“He’s our friend. Right, Felicity?” The little girl blinked up at her through her long lashes.

“This is boring,” Monroe cut in before Felicity could respond. “Can we order now?”

“Monroe, not everything is about you,” Felicity admonished just before the waiter arrived. They placed their orders, and afterward, Felicity channeled her mother yet to be awoken and gave Monroe a good talking-to about her behavior towards her and the twins earlier. The thirteen-year-old coiled into herself after being introduced for the first time to the politely public version of Felicity’s loud voice.

To Felicity’s surprise, Monroe softened and let a little bit of her true nature out. Like Felicity had suspected, the teenager’s bravado was more for show than anything else. She looked up to find Oliver stealing a glance at her. She wasn’t going to lie. She wanted to _go say hi_ to Oliver, too. She shook her head and looked down. No, she’d made a promise to herself to keep away from him because of Susan. She was going to stick to it.

Twenty minutes passed, and what the hell was wrong with her? Why wouldn’t her wandering eyes listen? He caught her staring again. They held each other’s gazes. This time, Felicity couldn’t seem to look away.

***

“This could really work. We just need to ensure the tech is state-of-the-art,” concluded Ted Kord, waiting for Oliver’s response. “Oliver.  Oliver?”

Oliver shook his head and broke the gaze of the beautifully sweet woman he wanted so badly to get to know and turned back to Ted. “That’s where I was hoping you’d come in. Our research department has done business with yours in the past,” Oliver said.

“But every one of those projects have been outlined and approved by both our boards,” Ted pointed out.

“And this one has to be off the radar,” said Oliver, “because I need to show it’s viable before I present anything to my father or our board of directors.”

“I can’t say that I don’t love it, but this tech stuff isn’t really my area. I’m more of a scientist and the other half of my corporation deals in weapons and arms. We’ll need to pull in a specialist.”

Oliver nodded, his heart speeding up, looking back at the blonde who was now laughing at something one of her charges said. Felicity was a certified MIT tech genius. Maybe he could ask her opinion at least on where to begin. But he could never use her that way. Besides, he had no idea what she specialized in. Ted turned his head around to see what had encapsulated Oliver’s gaze so readily.

 “She is a beauty,” Ted remarked with an appreciative smirk. “Do you know her?”

 “Yes. Uh, sort of…” Oliver said, clearing his throat before finally looking back at Ted. “So can I count on you to at least give this a try?” He really needed this deal to work if he was going to get back into his father’s good graces after losing that million dollar contract a month ago. If it worked, this deal would pay off in a much bigger way for him if it worked out.

“Tentatively, yes. Let’s talk more later,” Ted concluded before his sandy blonde eyebrows shot high on his forehead as if he’d just gotten a brilliant idea. “I’m having a dinner party next Friday. Invite your nearest dearest to my beach house. We’ll set aside some time to talk about this a little more. I’ll have had time to go over your proposal.”

“Okay,” said Oliver. For some reason, this summer Oliver hadn’t felt too up for parties, but his mind was on this deal, so he’d make the best of it. Just as Oliver finished signing the bill for a lunch on him, a little face popped up next to the table.

“Hi, Oliver! I made you a picture!” Harlan exclaimed, handing him a white card stock paper with a crayoned flower on it. “Felicity let me come give it to you because I finished my spaghetti. I got that instead of a hamburger like we usually get here. My brother still got a hamburger, but just because we’re twins, Felicity says we don’t always have to do the same thing, which I don’t,” she rambled. “Do you like it?”

“I love it, Harlan,” said Oliver with a little laugh. She certainly could talk. He’d learned that the other day on the beach.

“I’m so sorry,” said Felicity, appearing next to Harlan and grasping the young girl’s shoulders.  
“I told her it looked like you were doing business, and that she could come after she finished her food. But Harlan, four bites, does not mean you’re finished. It could mean that, but it doesn’t--”

Oliver laughed again. They both babbled. It was adorable and obvious that they were related.  

“We were just finishing up, Felicity,” said Oliver. “Felicity Smoak and Harlan Fitzpatrick, meet—”

Ted’s hand jutted out toward Felicity.  “Ted Kord,” Ted finished for him as she accepted the gesture.

Oliver’s jaw clenched and his lips puckered the pressed together. He knew Ted was just as eligible as a bachelor as Oliver. He was also a genius, which made Oliver shift in his chair. He had the sudden urge to rip off Ted’s face. _Whoa._ Where had that come from? He noticed Ted was still holding Felicity's hand.

“What’s the matter, Oliver?” Harlan asked.

Oliver flushed looking down at the little girl. “Nothing, honey. I’m fine.”

“Felicity…?” Ted started with a toothy very interested grin.

“Smoak,” she finished. Heat rose to Oliver’s ears as the pair fell into an ease conversation. Felicity had a sharp brain that went beyond genius. Oliver could never compare to Ted in that department. He was a playboy, an athlete, a known charmer – To some Oliver was in ways far above of Ted’s in the social strata of the rich and in others far below it, especially when it came to degrees and diplomas. 

"Lovely to meet you, Miss Smoak," Ted replied, turning her hand over and kissing it.

What game was Ted playing? Felicity was a nice girl. She wasn’t a billionaire’s play thing. Of course, Kord wasn’t the one known for being the playboy type. It was Oliver. His eyes slammed shut. Damn it. _Stop staring at her. At least, speak for crying out loud._

“Felicity and I met through her cousin, Susan,” Oliver supplied when Ted finally dropped a blushing Felicity's hand.

“Oh, Susan Fitzpatrick, right? Oliver’s latest flame,” Ted joked, making Oliver want to commit ten kinds of murder, and he had ways to do it.

Felicity laughed. “So, now I’ve met Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen and Ted Kord…”

“You know Bruce!” Ted’s bushy brows shot up.

“I worked for Wayne Enterprises.”

“I didn’t know that,” said Oliver. Kord looked way too interested in what she had to say next for Oliver’s peace of mind.

“I ran IT. Well, I didn’t really run it. I had a boss, two bosses actually. Well, the head of the department, then the supervisor in my division over me. Not over me, like that, and well, anyway, he was… Sorry, I tend to ramble if someone doesn’t stop me,” she finished with her hand resting lightly on her throat, her cheeks flushed with pink.

Oliver swallowed. She was so beautiful, and she had no idea.

“I’m sure you’re a whiz at it,” offered Ted.

Felicity chuckled as Harlan climbed on Oliver’s knee. “Not to toot my own horn,” said Felicity, “but if there was something to toot it about, it would be that.” She glanced over as Oliver helped Harlan construct a paper airplane out of one of the selection cards the restaurant had left out from their daily brunch. Then she looked back at Ted.

Oliver eyed Ted as he continued to converse with Felicity.

“You really are beautiful,” said Ted out of the blue. Oliver fumed. He wanted to be the one to say that. But Felicity wasn’t interested in him, was she? She’d told him flat out the other night. She’d given him the excuse about her cousin, but it had probably been just that – an excuse. “And charming,” Ted went on.

Oliver’s jaw clenched, but he held back, not uttering a word though blind rage fired inside him from where he could not quite fathom. Right, the pit of jealousy he had no right to be swimming in when it came to Felicity.

“Thank you,” she said, looping a blonde strand around her ear. Oliver wondered what her hair felt like. It looked soft. It was probably soft. He needed to stop.

“Please, come to my party next Friday,” said Ted.

Oliver’s heart lifted while his stomach dropped. What was this woman doing to him? The thought of her being at the dinner party that he previously did not want to go to elated him, but the thought of her being there as some sort of almost date of Ted’s disturbed him.

“Oh, I…I don’t know,” Felicity stumbled over her words. “I’ve got my hands full with the kids. What Oliver didn’t tell you is that I’m nannying for Susan. She gave me the job for the summer while I’m between career jobs.”

“Hey Oliver!” Deville popped into the conversation, his dimples pushing into each of his cheeks. _Dimples only work for so long, kid._ They certainly hadn't helped Oliver with his current situation.

“Hey, kiddo. How’s it going?” Oliver responded to Harlan’s twin. Oliver looked back at the table he’d just vacated and his older sister, Monroe, looked occupied enough, chattering and giggling through her phone.

“Well, if you can’t make it to my party,” said Ted. “How about horseback riding with the kids? I have stables…”

Deville shrugged, eyeing Ted with a bored look. “Harlan and Monroe have their own horses. I prefer ATVs,” he said quickly then turned to Oliver. “Oliver, you said you had a track and that you’d teach us to shoot a bow and arrow! Can we go, Felicity?”

“Not today,” Felicity said. “Your big sister will be bored out of her mind.”

“You said we have to stop doing everything based on her.”

“I didn’t say that meant it was your turn to stop considering other’s feelings,” said Felicity.

Ted stood, smoothing down his sports coat.  “Well, I have to get going,” said Ted. “Felicity, I hope you can make it to the party.”

“Please, can we go to Oliver’s, Felicity?” asked Deville to which Harlan nodded vigorously. 

“I’m sure Oliver’s busy,” Felicity said.

“Actually, this was my only thing today,” Oliver said.

“All right. Thanks, Oliver. We’ll text you after lunch to see if it’s still an option. Right now, our food is getting cold, munchkins.”

“Bye, Oliver!” Harlan said, climbing off his lap and gathering her paper airplanes.  “Hope you like the picture.”

***

Felicity led the kids back to the table. They ate in relative silence though happiness exuded from each of them. Then Felicity’s phone chimed.

“It’s Oliver, right?” Harlan asked. Felicity blushed, secretly hoping she was right. But she was surprised to find a message from a work colleague from Wayne Enterprises, Craig Malone.

**Felicity. I know you don’t work here, but I need your help. I’ll love you forever.**

_What’s up?_

**Remember that security software I was working on? It’s got a bug I can’t work out and I’m presenting at the end of the week. Do you think we could talk?**

_That isn’t my job anymore._

**I’m desperate. Please, Felicity.**

_All right. Will tomorrow be okay?_

**Yes, perfect.**

Felicity and the kids piled into a taxi so they could make it to Oliver’s while they still had a few hours of daylight. She was surprised to find that Monroe actually wanted to go, too. They arrived to a grinning and excited Oliver, who’d changed from his business casual summer-wear to a gray t-shirt and black pants, which made him look extremely sexy. He certainly did not look like a guy who belonged in the enormous house on nearly twice as much land as Susan’s property had. He took Felicity and the kids out back and led them to the estate's archery range, which was at the top of a small slope that overlooked a small wooded area in the distance. Four targets sat several yards in front of the trees.

When Oliver gave her a quiver full of arrows and a bow, Monroe had such a bright smile on her face, Felicity could not believe it. Oliver taught them several tricks after demonstrating his insanely sharp skills. Felicity had never seen anything like it. He even had a special trick arrow that split into two after he launched it. Felicity watched amazed as two arrows sailed into two different bullseyes at once.

“You’re a master at this,” said Felicity after Oliver left the kids to practice on their own and came to stand beside her.

He shrugged. “Yeah, I’m just really into archery, so I had this one custom made,” he explained, gesturing to the double arrow. “You wanna try?”

Felicity shook her head. She was so klutzy, she was sure she wouldn’t hit any of the targets. After a moment, Felicity laughed, causing Oliver to frown. “I’m sorry. Did I say something funny?”

“No. My whirling mind. I was just thinking with your archery skills and my super security tech capabilities, we’d make a good Bonnie and Clyde. Although maybe a gun would be better for robbing a bank than an arrow. Not that you need to rob a bank, so that doesn’t make sense. Never mind.”

Oliver let out a breathy chuckle. “It’s okay, Felicity. I get the joke,” he said. “Speaking of security, I have a project I want to bring to my dad. It’s what I was working on with Ted Kord. I acquired the idea from a techie friend of mine in Russia. He died…”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks,” said Oliver. He cleared his throat before going on. “He wanted QC to develop it. I was planning to bring this to my dad but I was kicked out of the company before I had the chance to get it ready.”

Felicity’s ears perked up. “What is it?”

“Just a phone.”

“A phone?”

“A super smart phone with military grade encryption to keep people’s information from being attacked so easily. A similar model is in part available to the elite and goes for about $14k a pop, but this one will be low energy and more economical for the everyday consumer. At least, that’s what I understand of it,” he finished, letting out a heavy breath.

Felicity was impressed with the idea. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t thought of before, but that was her thing. She was also flattered that Oliver trusted her with the information. But the light he normally had in his eyes wasn’t there when he spoke of the product. Instead, she saw something else. Desperation perhaps, a need for approval? Neither was a good look on him. “And is this something you care about Oliver?”

“I want to help people, yes,” he said, licking his lips. “And my father will love being on the cutting edge of it.”

“But what about you?” Felicity pressed.

“Like I said, I just want to help people,” snapped Oliver. “Forget I said anything.” He looked back at the kids practicing. "Lift your elbows higher! Then nock the arrow, eye the target, and release," he called out to them.

“I’m sorry,” said Felicity. She was and she wasn’t but telling him what to do with his life was not her place. She seemed to have a lot of advice for everyone but herself these days. Maybe nannying was getting to her. She hoped to God she wasn’t turning into Mary Poppins. “I was out of line.”

“No. You were just being honest.”

Oliver’s phone chimed. He slid it out of his pocket to read the text message that had appeared.

**Hey, sexy. Surprise. I’m outside.**

“It’s your cousin,” Oliver said, shoving the phone back into his pocket without replying.

A lump took up residence in her throat. “Oh. Well, we should probably get going,” Felicity croaked out.

“No. No. It’s fine,” Oliver said, eyes a little frantic. “Please, stay.”

“Kids, we should get going,” Felicity called out to them before turning back to Oliver. “Do you really think they should see their mother popping by for a quickie?”

“Felicity, that’s not what…?”

Felicity lifted an eyebrow, daring him to challenge what she had clearly been about to say.

“You can take them out around the house. I’ll let her in through the front door,” said Oliver quietly. He replaced his solemn expression with a little smirk. “Or I could ignore her, and we can continue our argument.”

“I wasn’t arguing with you,” she said as the kids finished putting away their quivers.

Oliver’s phone rang. He ignored it. They both knew who it was.

“Answer it,” said Felicity. “I’ll see you around,” Felicity said after the twins hugged Oliver goodbye, and Monroe told him he was a badass.

“Yeah?” She couldn’t help but notice the hope in his voice.

“You know,” she said, flailing her hand with a nervous chuckle. “This place is a lot smaller than they make it out to be on TV.”

Felicity turned without looking back and led the kids around the house. It was true she didn’t want them running into their mom while she was hunting her playboy prey, but the truth was, she really didn’t want to see them flirting with each other. Felicity was sure it would inexplicably tear her heart into tiny pieces. After all, she had no claim on Oliver Queen.

As she climbed into the back of the taxi she was surprised to find waiting for her and the kids a few paces outside of the property --“Mr. Queen said you’d need a ride,” the driver had told her – she had the urge to call Thea and once and for all find out what kind of relationship Oliver had with Susan. She didn’t want to care, but damn it she did. When Felicity looked down at her phone, she found a message waiting for her from Susan.

**You know, I saw you.**

_Saw me where?_

**You’re too young for him, Felicity.**

_Too young for who?_

**Don’t play dumb. That’s one thing you know you can’t get away with.**

_He invited the kids over to use his archery range._

**All right, then. What you do on your own time is fine, but don’t involve my kids.**

_I’m not interested in Oliver Queen, so stop accusing me._

There was no answer after that. And by the time Felicity awoke the next day, Susan was gone again. No goodbye to Felicity, no text of instructions, or warning when she thought she might be back. Felicity spent the better part of the morning and a large part of the afternoon helping her old friend, Craig fix his security software issues. She loved the feeling of coding again, and it made her wistful for a return to her regular life. Not that she had any idea what her regular life was supposed to be these days. Then as she was making dinner with Harlan, who turned out to be excellent at watching the time and mixing things just so, Susan contacted Felicity with a cold --

**Paris. Three weeks tops.**

_Three weeks?_   Before Felicity could compose the proper response, another text appeared from Susan.

**He’s incredible. But he’s not the kind for a relationship, honey. Not for either of us.**

Then the unfathomable happened: tech-loving Felicity Smoak decided she hated text messaging from the bottom of her soul. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are awesome. Kudos rock the world.
> 
> What are you guys thinking? The story seems to have a mind of its own though it's fully plotted out. Can't wait to read your thoughts as always. Love you guys!


	5. Lemonade with Lucy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE WON! Congrats reigning SOTY champs! Olicity for life!
> 
> Thanks for reading. I'll try updating again by the end of the week. Depends on if family comes by or not. Hmm.

[ ](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

11:52am. Felicity’s fingers flew across her laptop’s keyboard. She’d been at this since five in the morning. The deadline for her friend Craig stalked nearer. But she would be done in ample time. Noon was her goal. That way her old colleague would have two hours to review and ask her any follow up questions before his presentation. Her mind danced with algorithms and matrices as perfect code unfolded before her eyes. Craig was going to kill that meeting.

The lull of the ocean not-so-far in the distance made peace with the one-two-three of her speedy mind when a small curly-mopped head appeared through the door.  “Feliiiiicityyyy!” Harlan sing-songed from the archway.

“Almost done, chicken fry.”

“Watch this!” Harlan suddenly disappeared into the hallway behind her. Hard footsteps heavy pounded in her wake, thudding as if preparing for a run then without warning she surfed into the room on her socked feet. “Bam!”

Felicity laughed and shook her head before she found Harlan peeking over her shoulder.

“Whoa,” the little girl remarked. “That looks like the Matrix.”

“Yep.”

“I want to learn. What’s it do?”

“Just a program.”

“I built a rocket last year and…”

“Stop bragging,” Deville said, joining them. “She’s sorta smarter than me, but she doesn’t always have to brag about it, right?”

“Being proud of yourself and bragging are two very different things,” Felicity said as she finished up the last of the code and sent it off to Craig. Not more than ten seconds later, her cell rang. “I’m not doing this again for you, Craig,” she said as soon as she picked up. “It’s not ethical. And no, on the securities thing. I really can’t help you there.”

_“Then will you consider coming back and just do it as an employee? We’re drowning here.”_

“You know I can’t do that.”

_“Felicity, please?”_

“I thought you were proud of me for walking away. What changed?”

_“I guess no one else around here wants to sign up to be my hero.”_

“You don’t need a hero.”

_“Everyone needs a hero, and you are the best.”_

“Yeah, I guess I am pretty awesome.”

_“Don’t get full of yourself, Smoak.”_

The doorbell rang, and the kids popped up to answer it. “Stop right there!” Felicity commanded. “I’ll get it. Occupy yourselves, and I’ll make you lunch in a minute,” she told the kids. “I gotta go, Craig.”

She found a smiling face at the front door, holding a closed container and a compilation of DVDs. “Thea! What are you doing here?”

“Lemonade with Lucy?” she asked. Felicity laughed and let her in. “And I need to talk to you. I have an emergency.”

They settled the twins in with the first DVD, a couple sandwiches and tall cool glasses of lemonade before stepping back into the kitchen to chat. Thea’s emergency turned out to not be too urgent. She wanted to introduce Roy to her group of friends and Ollie. She needed moral support.

“I’m sure I can ask Ted turn my invite into a plus two. Or I could ask Ollie to do a plus one,” Thea suggested with two pumps of her eyebrows.

“No! Please,” she practically shouted then cleared her throat. “I mean, I’ve already been invited.”

Thea folded her arms. “Oh. By who?”

“Ted Kord,” Felicity supplied. “We ran into him at a restaurant when he was having lunch with Oliver.”

Thea’s brows knitted. “And Oliver heard him invite you?”

Felicity nodded.

“And what, if you don’t mind my asking, was my brother’s reaction?”

Felicity shrugged. If she was honest with herself, she would admit that Oliver had looked uncomfortable when Ted asked her to attend. He probably didn’t want her around after she’d turned him down for the date. But then again, at the archery range he definitely did not seem like he was bothered by her presence. In fact, he’d practically begged her to stay. “I really don’t think he reacted at all. Why?”

“You know Ollie stopped seeing Susan the day after he spent time with you on the beach.”

“No, he didn’t,” she said. “I know she went to his house that same day we ran into him at the restaurant, which was after the beach.”

“Was that the same day you and kids came out to the archery range?”

Felicity nodded with a flush. So, he’d told her about that.

“I don’t know what she told you, but Ollie took me out to dinner that night. He wasn’t with her. She drunk texted him or something, but he wouldn’t tell me what she said. He looked annoyed. Then he told me she just can’t take a hint. He’s kind of upset with her. Says he knows she wouldn’t care if it wasn’t for…”

“Wasn’t for what, Thea?”

“ _You_.”

Felicity’s heart quickened. “Me?”

With a heavy sigh, Thea pulled up one of the kitchen stools and settled herself in for a real talk. “He told me to stay out of it, which I’m trying to do, but he looks miserable half the time,” she said, hands folded in front of her, eyes serious. “That is when he’s not griping about my dad. So, this dinner party…You need to come.”

“I don’t know, Thea…”

“Please, Felicity. It will be fun. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for me. I need you.”

Thea’s poked out lip and pleading eyes crumbled Felicity's resolve. She would like to see Oliver again. “What about the kids? I can't just leave them.”

Thea shrugged a shoulder. “Can’t they stay with the older one?” Thea said flopping her hand. “You know. Monroe! Can’t they stay with her?”

“No. I asked her to watch the kids for two hours yesterday and when I came home, I found Deville on the roof playing water balloon-catch with Harlan down below.”

“Oh my God. Where was Monroe?”

“On the phone in her room. I’m trying to get her to learn to pay attention to people outside of her bubble, but it’s definitely a slow-going process.”

“Okay,” Thea started thoughtfully. “Then hire a nanny service. There are tons of good ones around here. They have temporary sitters and stuff like that.”

Felicity frowned. It would have to be a good one that screened their sitters. “That could work.”

“Yeah, everyone does it. Nannies need nights off too.” Thea winked.

“How alliterative of you.” Felicity thought about it for a moment. You know she did deserve some time with just grown-ups.  “What was the name of that place Tommy’s friend mentioned on the beach?”

“I was thinking of that, too. Tree Pine?”

“Tree Line, I think,“ Felicity corrected as their conversation with the silicon-enhanced woman came back to her. “I’ll call Susan to make sure she’s okay with it.”

“But don’t tell her where you’re going. Say that you’re going for a girls night out with me, but nothing else. You deserve a night off.”

“Susan probably doesn’t think so.”

“Who cares what she thinks.”

“You’re right,” Felicity said with conviction. "Totally right actually." 

Thea squealed. “Thank you so much! Now, let’s go watch some Lucy with the kids.”

Felicity smiled. She was doing something for herself, something that made her insides taut out with anticipation and fear. But she was going to see Oliver. She pictured his face and her smile widened.

That night, Felicity received another S.O.S. from Craig. It wasn’t like him to bug her this much. He said he’d been asked to raise the bar on some decryption portion the software program, but he wasn’t having any luck. Felicity felt badly refusing to help, but she needed to distance herself from Wayne and that old life. She’d had so many ideas stolen from her, watched people get promotions and raises from her work. At first, she figured it was all part of being new to the job, but after two years of it and no recognition, she wasn’t sure there’d ever be an end to it -- especially not after her ex-Aiden screwed her over. She refused to be taken advantage of again. She’d gone away to regroup, to figure out what to do next with her life for a reason. She sighed turning over on her pillow. The only thing she knew at that moment was she wanted to see Oliver again, and tomorrow night she was going to get to do just that.  

 ***

Felicity paced the expanse of the den, temple pulsing. “Craig, you have to understand that I can’t help you. Ask Aiden,” Felicity told her friend, knowing that her ex-boyfriend would never help anyone if there wasn’t something in it for him.

_“Aiden was fired.”_

“What?! When did that happen?” A bucket of ice water -- that had just been thrown in her face, right? Aiden, Mr. Perfect Smooth Operator, fired?

 _“We got a new supervisor right after you left,"_ Craig explained, his voice lowering, _"and he’s cleaning house, inserting all his own people, starting with the department heads. But they haven’t gotten rid of me because I think they really want this software and the only two people who know it inside and out are me and you. You didn’t want Aiden to see the project when you were still here, and I honored that after you left. When the new guy came in, he asked for you specifically when he got here. I don’t know how he knew about you, but—“_

“Why are just telling me this now?”

_“I thought it was a good idea for you to leave. After everything that happened with Aiden. First your college ex, then that bastard.”_

“Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound."

_"Now, I just miss having a normal person to talk to."_

Felicity snorted a laugh. "I guess maybe you should get out of there, too, Craig. You're starting to lose your grip on reality if you think I'm normal."

_"You know what I mean."_

"Anyway, I have to get ready for something I’m going to tonight.”

_“Oh? Hot date.”_

“Not exactly,” she said. "Talk to you later. And you'll be fine. I promise. Whatever the outcome." Not long after they’d exchanged goodbyes, a text from Thea came the later that afternoon.

 **I’m sending a car. Don’t bother arguing. See you tonight**. **I know you’ll look fab in that outfit we picked out.**

They’d picked out a blue summer dress and decided hair down and over the shoulder for the occasion. Monroe peeked into her room as she was just snapping on her earring.

“You look really pretty.”

“You think so?”

Monroe nodded, coming into the room and sitting on the bed. “This is the smallest room in the house. I wonder why my mother gave you this one,” she said, eyes sweeping around the room. This was the first time she’d visited Felicity in her room. Harlan was a repeat customer given she was prone to nightmares and sharing a bed with Felicity two or three nights a week with the express promise that Felicity not tell her brother. Later, Felicity realized Harlan had been alternating her nights between Felicity’s bed and Monroe’s.  She was missing her mother, seeking out stability and comfort. The thought made Felicity pause. Maybe she shouldn’t be going out tonight.

“The kids are going to have to get used to you not being here. This is a good first step,” said Monroe wisely. “I could tell from your expression what you were thinking. You have to go to this thing. Especially if Oliver’s going to be there. He is isn’t he?”

“Yes,” she said on a sigh.

Monroe grinned.

“Don’t tell your mother.”

Monroe rolled her eyes. “I’m not that stupid. She doesn’t even like Oliver. I mean, she likes him. He’s gorgeous. All my friends think so, but it’s not the same way you like him. You know for more than just his looks. It’s like when you feel that something.”

Felicity laughed. “And what would you know about that?”

“I’m a thirteen-year-old girl. Romance is my thing. My ships are Klaroline, Delena and Naley.” She held up three fingers as she ticked off her favorite pairings with pride.

“ _Naley_? From One Tree Hill? Aren’t you too young for that?”

“Netflix is a beautiful thing,” replied Monroe.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this given the amount of times I correlate my life to episodes of Dr. Who and Star Trek. I could probably write a dissertation on the way in which those series and many other track and mimic human behavior, but I’m not a sociologist, so—“

“You and Harlan really are so related. It must be like a smart girl thing -- The babbling,” Monroe said. 

Felicity sighed. “You can’t predict your love life based on TV.”

Monroe shrugged a shoulder. She clearly was not buying what Felicity was selling.

“Besides, Oliver’s got his fill of women," Felicity continued. "And he’s probably not the commitment type.”

Monroe humphed and hopped off the bed. “Just have fun, Felicity. We won’t tell my mom. You’ve got two and half whole weeks before she comes home, and I want to see how this turns out. It’s totally like watching a rom com!”

Felicity shook her head. “Gee thanks,” she said as the doorbell rang. “The service is early.”

Monroe groaned. “Why do we have to have a baby-sitter? I can look after the kids.”

Felicity tossed her sharp look and lifted her eyebrows.

“Okay, fine. Sitter it is,” she said as she followed Felicity into the hall. “Text me if anything juicy happens. No wait. Don’t text me. Give Oliver your full attention. No wait. Don’t do that either. Just be natural.”

“Now look who’s babbling,” Felicity said, laughing as she opened the front door. Her throat closed when she saw who was on the other side of it.

“What’s the matter, Felicity?” Monroe asked, coming to stand beside her.

Felicity just kept staring at their new visitor, who stood there with his lips pressed together in a perfectly fitted summer suit no tie. Was he holding his breath, too? It looked like he might be.

“Felicity,” he started off, “you look… Um, ready to go?”

“Hi Oliver!” Monroe said beside her.

“Hey, kiddo,” Oliver said, still looking at Felicity for a beat before shifting his eyes to her younger cousin. “You been doing those arm exercises I suggested? Gotta be strong if you want to be serious about shooting arrows.”

“Oh, yeah. I was thinking about asking my mom’s trainer to help me.”

“Or you can do it with your friends,” Oliver suggested.  “You know. Do it as a team?”

Monroe shrugged. “Maybe. So, what do you think of Felicity’s dress?”

Felicity blushed. “Monroe!”

“I think it’s beautiful,” Oliver said, taking the time to sweep his eyes up and down her body.

“Um. Thank you, Oliver,” Felicity said trying very hard not to turn into jelly before his eyes. “But I just… We were expecting the nanny service. You’re not the car Thea was sending over, are you?” she asked already knowing the answer.

“Don’t blame her. I sort of forced her hand. I wanted to spend time with you.”

Felicity heard Monroe turning to walk away. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, cousin Felicity,” she added before she dipped into the back room where the twins were playing video games.

Oliver’s eyes danced across her face as if trying to catalog every part of it. Then he spoke, “So, we’re waiting for the nanny service to arrive?”

“Yeah,” she said, walking over to the window. “They shouldn’t be long,” she said, peeking out.

“I’ll go say hi to the kids. I take it they’re in the place where the glowing lights and the sound of virtual explosions are coming from.”

It wasn’t long before Felicity saw a woman from the service pull up in a green and white mini-van with the words _Tree Line Nanny Service_ painted on the side.

“Behave, please,” she told the kids after greeting the two women the agency had sent over, who'd promised to cook them dinner, make them take their baths and be sure they were in bed at a decent hour.

Oliver took her arm. “Milady.” Her arm tingled when the fingers from his opposite hand reached over to caress the bare skin of her arm. She cursed the sigh she let out. Why wasn’t she smoother? Judging from the grin on his face, Oliver didn’t seem to mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, chapter six is going to be a lot of fun! I can't wait to write it ...and after that, for you to read it. It should be a long one! 
> 
> Comments are my favorite thing ever. Kudos warm my shipper heart.


	6. A Summer Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver's POV. Felicity and Oliver go to Ted Kord's party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Thanks for the amazing replies throughout this story. They are what keep me going. This chapter takes the story in a slightly new direction. Not to worry other story points will be addressed as it progresses. Enjoy!

[](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

The fading sun of the summer evening followed Felicity to Oliver’s black Porsche, softly playing on her hair and outlining the deep blue of her light summer dress. Her beauty was indescribable at that moment, and Oliver tried not to let it overwhelm him. But this wasn’t a date. He was just giving her a ride.

“Thanks for coming to get me,” she said as he held open the passenger door. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Completely selfish on my part.” He winked at her, and she let out a breathy chuckle, before sliding into her seat. He pressed his lips together, hoping he wasn’t exuding too many Playboy Ollie tendencies. He needed to be real with her. After climbing into the car, he revved up the engine and slid out of the driveway. It bothered him just a little that he’d promised to pick up Thea before heading to Ted’s. He loved his little sister dearly, but he finally had Felicity to himself, and he wanted to savor it a little longer. “So, you look great,” he said, clearing his throat as they sped down the highway.

“Thank you, Oliver,” she said with a bright smile. “I tried.”

“Well, you obviously excel in more than one subject.”

She laughed again.

“Was that corny?”

She nodded, biting her lower lip. “A little.”

“I’m glad Ted invited you,” Oliver said after a moment. “These things can get pretty boring.”

“If I had known that, I would have stayed home with the kids.”

“It won’t be boring tonight though,” he told her, shooting a glance her way. She smiled easily at the compliment. “So tell me about working at Wayne.”

A heavy sigh was her first response, then— “Let’s talk about something else.”

“All right, you pick,” he said. His heart clutched when her smile brightened. He could see the wheels turning over in her mind as she thought of what topic she wanted to start on.

She started with _most embarrassing junior high school moment_. To her surprise, Oliver actually had one. It involved Tommy, an eighth grade prank and mooning the wrong person at the wrong time. Hers was more adorable. She said it was the day she walked into her seventh grade classroom. Her mother had just moved them from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to try something new, and she did not know anyone. Every eye in the room was on her then she tripped on a book a girl had put in her way in front of everyone. She tried laughing along with the class to mask her embarrassment, but let out a snort instead. The rest of the year the kids at her new school called her Felicity Snort.  

“That was cruel,” he said upon hearing the name. He shifted uncomfortably wondering if he'd have been the type of kid to participate in the teasing or if he'd have been smart enough to recognize how amazing she was at first sight and defended her honor. Knowing the type of kid he'd been, he knew it was the former. Hell, he'd just started to shed the idiot layer of his being not too long ago. 

“It’s kinda funny to me now. It got me my first boyfriend actually. Lars Lindström. Kids were making fun of his accent. We bonded over mutual geekdom.”

“From being bullied?”

“No our obsession with X-Files and World of Warcraft.”

“You know. I actually was into X-Files.”

“Really?  _You_ were into X-files _?_ ”

“Don’t sound so surprised. Okay. You can sound surprised," he said on a thin chuckle. "I was at the time. I was normally into sports if I watched television, but I really related to Mulder’s need to find out what happened to his sister. I’d do anything for my sister. And the whole fighting for truth thing. Doing the right thing against the odds. And I thought Scully was pretty cute.”

Felicity grinned.

They talked about their family and friends, started on a few of their hopes and dreams, and when they pulled into the driveway of the Queen summer compound and the sky began to darken, Oliver decided to prolong the moment. “Let’s just sit for a while before we head out,” Oliver suggested, pressing the automatic seat recliner back a bit. Felicity did not hesitate to follow his lead.

“Looking at the stars in a convertible with Oliver Queen? I’m in,” she said then blushed as the sky above them darkened. “I mean, great idea. I’d love to just talk some more. It’s what I do, right?” she rambled, turning redder as she lowered her seat back as well. “So, you want to know why I left Wayne?”

“Not if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, it’s okay.” She told him about a guy named Aiden, her ex, and the underhanded things both he and other colleagues did in the name of getting ahead. Oliver’s stomach tightened and his jaw clenched. “I just want to do my own thing, but tech costs, so I’ve gotta find some place to work,” she finished.

“What about Queen Consolidated?”

“Or Kord Industries?” she suggested.

Oliver reddened. “There’s always there, too.”

Felicity laughed. “Well, I’m weighing my options. I’ve had offers from both companies in the past, I could likely make a few calls, but I’m not sure a corporation is where I need to be.”

Oliver fought the urge to reach his hand over to hers and cover it with his own. He didn’t know if that was what she wanted right now. But God did he just want to feel her skin beneath his. He inched his hand closer to hers where it lay on the console. Maybe she was waiting for him to take it. What was this woman doing to him? Even as a kid, he’d never been so wary of someone of the opposite sex. He just didn’t want to scare her away. It mattered to him that he did not. He listened to her laugh as she told him a story about her mother. She gestured animatedly with her right hand, but kept the left one still on the console. She had to be waiting for him to touch her.

“I guess you better go get your sister,” said Felicity just as he’d been about to make his move.

“Right.” Oh, fuck it. He took her hand and threaded their fingers, his thumb drawing circles over her delicate skin. Oliver sat up a bit and leaned over to look down at her. He took in the lines of her face and breathed in her scent. Lilac and something else sweet. It intoxicated him. He gravitated toward her, closer. Her lips looked so soft and sweet. He inched nearer then –  _riiiing_. Oliver froze, his eyes locked on her mouth. He licked his lips as the phone continued to ring before finally sighing and leaning back to answer the phone.

“You’ve got a rotary phone ringtone.” Felicity sat up, sounding more breathless than teasing, and re-positioned her reclined seat up with the hand Oliver wasn’t holding. The movement disappointed Oliver a little.

He let go of her hand to draw the phone out of the spot he’d placed it on the dash. “It’s Thea,” he said before picking up. “Hey. Sorry. We just got here,” Oliver lied.

_“Sure you did. I already left. I’ll meet you there. You guys looked too cozy in the car. I asked my date to grab me,” she went out with a joyous laugh. “You didn’t even notice me walking by. That could be considered dangerous, you know?”_

“You did not.”

_“If you say so.”_

Oliver turned to Felicity. “How long have we been out here?”

Felicity looked at the car clock. “Oh my god. Half an hour at least.”

Oliver listened to Thea’s laughter from the other end. “How did we not notice you leave?”

_“I’ll explain to you when you’re older, big brother. See you later.”_

After he hung up, Felicity bubbled up with laughter.  Oliver joined her. When they sobered, Felicity took his hand again.

“You can if you want to,” she whispered.

“Can what?” he asked, clearing his throat.

“Kiss me.”

Oliver felt his grin grow. “Yeah?” He became aware of the light breeze and the way it brushed her hair across her face and the pull in his chest as his large hand came to cover her cheek.

Felicity nodded once.

“Okay…”

The kiss was soft and sweet at first, then hungry and passionate. His free hand came up for frame her face, and Oliver devoured her mouth as a growl emitted from the back of his throat. He couldn’t get enough of her. How could he have waited so long? He sucked on her tongue, reveling in her exquisite taste. It made him want to taste more of her, to make her his. He was quite sure he’d never felt anything like the experience of kissing Felicity Smoak, and he was pretty sure that if he had to die doing something, it would be this. When she let out a little whimper, he was done.

They parted. Felicity was adorable, panting and out of breath, flushed and pink. It took his mind to dangerous places. Dangerous places he wanted to be with her. He kissed each knuckle of her hand. “I guess we better go,” he said finally, kissing her cheek, then nuzzling it for a moment.

Felicity gave him a shy smile and bit her lip. “Yeah. We better.”

“Or we could ditch the whole thing,” he suggested hopefully.

“We couldn’t but isn’t this business thing with Ted super important to you?”

“Yeah,” he admitted.

“Then let’s get it done.”

He grinned. She was already in his corner.

***

They arrived at a long yellow mansion along shore, the estate of Ted Kord. A valet took Oliver’s car for them, and with a hand on the small of her back, Oliver led Felicity into the den of the rich – a place he knew she’d fit in, but he half-way wished she didn’t have to. But he knew she was a strong capable woman, so he wasn’t worried. Ted spotted them as soon as they’d stepped through the foyer into the grand living room. There were about twenty guests mingling – some seated, some standing. “Felicity Smoak, I’m so glad you could make it,” Ted said, kissing her cheek with a bit of a leer if Oliver was not mistaken. Oliver seethed beneath his tight smile. “Queen, old boy,” he said, clapping Oliver on the back. Could this guy be any more polo club tonight? He was probably drunk. “Your sister told me you two would be coming together.”

“She just came over a little ahead of us,” supplied Oliver. “We were supposed to all arrive together.”

Ted’s eyebrows flew high on his head, looking far too pleased. “Oh, so then this is not a date?”

Before Oliver could comment, Thea appeared and tugged Felicity’s arm. “I need you. Hi, Ollie,” she said quickly as she ushered her friend away from him.

Oliver frowned at his sister’s actions, watching as she beelined toward an average-height man with a chiseled jaw pacing in front of a fireplace who looked as if the suit jacket he was wearing was making his skin itch. Thea then introduced a flustered Felicity to him, who smiled and laughed her greeting. The boy seemed charmed by her or maybe it was just Oliver who found her charming. No, there was no doubt about it—Felicity Smoak lit up a room.

“Queen, earth to Queen.” Kord laughed.

“Sorry, what?”

“I asked if Felicity was your date.”

“She’s, uh, that is…I…” Oliver’s eyes darted over to see her laughing. Her head was thrown back a bit, exposing her lovely neck. His heart flipped. “I didn’t officially ask her no, but—“

“Ah, well, then. She’s fair game.”

“She’s not target for hunting practice, Kord.”

“You know what I mean,” he said, laughing and walking to where Thea and Felicity stood. Oliver followed close behind.

“Ollie! Um, Ollie, this is my friend Roy. Roy, this is my brother Ollie.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes at the young man. “How do you know my sister?”

“He’s just a friend,” Thea said.

“Like Felicity and Oliver are just friends,” said Ted.

Oliver shot his associate an incredulous look. Before Oliver could say another word, another party infiltrated their mini-conclave – Tommy Merlyn and the same two women from the beach. Oliver was surprised to see his friend with the same set of women. After he’d broken up with Laurel, Tommy rarely allowed repeat dates.

“Well, well. Hello, everybody,” Tommy said, clapping his hands then rubbing them together. “Oliver, Thea, you remember Eden and Candy.”

Each of the women shook the Queen siblings’ hands. “Thank you for having us, Mr. Kord,” Candy said to their billionaire host.

“You’re more than welcome,” said Ted, kissing her hand.

Eden turned to Felicity, pointing a lazy well-manicured finger in her direction. “We’ve met before, too, haven’t we?”

“The girl from the beach!” Tommy exclaimed. “You clean up pretty gorgeous, sweetheart.”

Oliver cleared his throat and delivered Tommy a death glare he knew would be easily read by his oldest friend. Tommy nodded. “Well, I guess Ollie here’s not in need of a plus one after all.”

Eden laughed. “So, the movie star let the babysitter have a night off, huh?”

“We called Tree Line. Thank you,” Thea said over politely to Eden’s friend, Candy. Oliver wasn’t sure why.

“On short notice?” asked Candy. “Really? Well, I guess they heard the name Susan Fitzpatrick and dropped everything.” She chuckled.

“What’s it like living in a fabulous woman like that’s shadow?” Eden asked, eyes sharp on Felicity. Oliver did not like her tone, and it made him step a little closer to Felicity.

“I wouldn’t know,” said Felicity. “I’ve got plenty to be proud of, thanks.”

Oliver smiled, slipping his hand into hers. Thea smirked. Tommy lifted an eyebrow. Ted frowned, and Eden’s eyes grew wide with shock.

“Well, we’re waiting for one more guest before we head into dinner,” Ted said, turning to the gathered guests, cutting the tension. “He should be here shortly, but in the meantime, mingle, mingle, mingle.”

“Who’s this secret guest, Kord?” asked Oliver.

“You’re gonna love it. Something to do with our deal, Queen. He’s one of the top tech guys in the country,” he said, eyes darting to Felicity then back to Oliver. “I think I’ll surprise you though. He’s best served up in person.”

Thea, Tommy, his two dates and Roy fell into a somewhat awkward free-flowing conversation as Ted pulled Oliver aside for a little more business talk. When more than twenty minutes had passed and still no guest, Ted announced they would have to start dinner without him. To Oliver’s irritation, Ted had placed Felicity beside him in his seating arrangements.

Oliver took his place next to Candy. He was grateful it wasn’t her witchy friend, Eden, but he could kill Kord for being so obvious about Felicity. Oliver felt Candy’s hand lightly touch his wrist. He pulled it away politely. “So, you’re not with Susan any more?” Oliver noticed Felicity looking over at them.

“I was never with Susan,” he replied, giving Candy a placating smile.

“But you’re with her babysitter now?” the model pressed. “She’s a sweet girl, but—“

“First, that’s none of your business. And second, what does it matter to you anyway?”

Candy shrugged. “It’s just interesting that’s all.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s usually the horny married dude and the nanny not the billionaire playboy. Guess you like to shake things up a bit.”

Oliver pressed his lips together. He’d been wrong. Candy was just as bad as her friend. She was just better at hiding it than the other girl was. He turned away from the snarky woman to look at Felicity. Her smile soothed the fire brewing in his chest. She winked at him. He grinned.

“I’m lucky she’s giving me the time of day,” said Oliver. After that, Candy stayed quiet as they finished their meal. Dessert was served on the veranda as a live jazz band played.

Oliver leaned down to Felicity’s ear as they headed outdoors. “Come with me,” he whispered, loving the way she shivered when he spoke.

“Should I be afraid?” she joked, her voice lower and huskier than he’d ever heard it. She was trying to kill him.

“Very.” She smiled up and him and followed him out into the night air. The lights twinkled along the garden and the jazz band pumped soothing but lively tunes into the breeze.

Oliver led her down some steps to a secluded part of the garden where they found a stone bench. As soon as they sat, his mouth was on hers, devouring her again. He inhaled her sigh. She was like honey and nectar and the most addicting ambrosia he’d ever tasted. Not that he’d had the pleasure, but if he’d had he was pretty sure it would have tasted like this. “I should have taken you back inside. What was I thinking?” he asked, as his mouth dipped to her neck and he began suckling on her sweet skin. “God, you’re so perfect.”

“Oliver…”

He kissed a line up her neck then over her jawline then, peppered more across her cheek before crashing his lips to hers again. “So beautiful.” He couldn’t get enough.

“I…” She pressed her hands lightly against his chest. Oliver wanted to stop, but he had a hard time making his mouth do so. She pressed again. He pulled back, panting, resting his head against hers. “Shouldn’t we slow down?”

He reached up and cupped her cheek, then looped a loose strand of her hair over her ear. “If that’s what you want.”

Her eyes darted down to his lips. “That’s not what I want at all.” She licked her lips the sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. Oliver’s eyes slipped shut. If she didn’t want him to kiss her again, she was going to have to stop doing that. She lifted her hand to his stubbled cheek, and brushed her thumb back and forth. “I just need to know something. Is this just a…Am I just one of many?”

“I…no. I told you I’ve never felt like this before about anyone. Not that I know what this is, but, Felicity, if this isn’t what you want, tell me and I’ll respect that, too. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“Are you always this open with your feelings?”

“Never.”

“Then I’m just a special case.”

“Yep,” he whispered.

Felicity moved in closer to him, their breathing mingling yet again, then – the sound of multiple gun shots followed by ear piercing screams came from inside. They both stood up. Oliver pushed Felicity behind him. “Shit. Wait.” He listened for the sound of gunfire to return. When nothing happened, he started toward the commotion. “Stay here and out of sight,” he ordered.

“Oliver, no! Where are you going?” Felicity was on his heels; when she reached him, she took his hand.

Oliver looked over his shoulder. How could he leave her? “I have to see what’s going on. Thea. Tommy.”

“You could be hurt,” she said. “What good would that do them? Please, don’t.”

He looked around before taking her hand. “There’s a door there,” he said, pulling her down the path a bit to a short stairwell. “This is the wine cellar. I’ve been here before.” He found a heavy rock, but before smashing the window, he listened again to see if he heard anyone close. The voices and screams seemed distant, so he took a chance. _Smash!_ The window broke, and he reached his hand inside to unlock the door.

“What are you going to do?”

He took her inside. “They must have shut down security or that would have totally set off the alarm, not to mention stopped whatever terrorist just attacked Ted Kord’s dinner party,” Felicity sputtered on as they wandered through the dark cellar. “But I can find a way to key it back in if I just find a—bingo!” She said, spotting the alarm box. “It’s out, but I can rewire it easily and get it going in three, two, one. Done.”

“You’re amazing,” Oliver said in awe of her.

“I’ve been told that,” she said cheekily, chin high.

He kissed her forehead then leaned back to brush the back of his hand down her cheek. “Can you stay here for me?" he asked, stroking his thumb across her lower lip. "I promise I’ll be okay, and I’ll come back for you.”

Felicity nodded as Oliver dropped his hand. “All right,” she said, her voice now resolute, strong. “I’ll try to get a direct signal from the security cameras into my phone and alert the police to exactly where whatever the heck is going on is going on.”

“Perfect,” said Oliver, searing his lips to hers – adrenaline pumped through his veins. From the moment or from her, he did not know. Then he was up the stairs and creeping down the back hallways of Ted Kord’s mansion, ready for whatever came next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? Shall I continue? Kudos and comments are my favorite things in the world. Thanks so much for reading. Love you guys!


	7. The Party Crashers

[](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

Felicity keyed into the surveillance that whomever the hell had infiltrated the party shut down. She was able to swipe her phone through each camera’s output until she came upon the room where Oliver had taken her hand in front of those bitchy women and made her insides melt. Totally inappropriate time to think about that. She’d already alerted the police, and now all she had to do was wait – focus and wait. She decided texting Oliver might not be the best idea in case it distracted him. “We need some kind of walkie-talkie ear pieces or something,” she muttered. Before Felicity could rattle on to herself any further, she saw it – well, it wasn’t really an it, it was more of him. Aiden. “What the hell?” He was crouched down, shielding that Candy woman as several sets of masked men held assault riffles at random people, including Ted Kord. “Damn it, Oliver, where are you?” She swiped the images the feed was driving into her phone a few places and stopped at the hallway between the living room where the hostages were and the dining room where they’d had dinner earlier that night. He was crouched down listening, waiting. She swiped it back to the living room. Thea was behind Roy. Tommy was behind the sofa with Eden. To her surprise, it was Aiden who stood up.

“Look, we’re all just trying to have fun tonight. Hell, I just got here. We’re just a little group of people looking to enjoy ourselves.”

A large man with an extremely wide chest and a black mask stepped forward. “Brave little idiot, you’ve got here, Kord.”

Ted lifted his chin and stepped forward. “Please, don’t hurt anyone.”

“We won’t,” the man said in a gruff voice. “As soon as you show us to your vault.”

“This isn’t my main house,” Ted stated, chin high but obviously nervous.

“Take us to your safe!” he shouted, then fired his weapon again.

Then all of a sudden Oliver appeared and grabbed one of the oafish men, disarmed him and put him in a hold, pointing the gun at his head. “You let them go, or I blow his brains out,” Oliver growled in a voice Felicity had no idea he possessed.

The leader whipped around at the distraction. “Oliver Queen.”

“Who the hell is behind this?” Oliver said in the same low dangerous tone.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” the masked man went on.

“I want you to let these people go,” Oliver said, his eyes sharp on the man.

The man behind the mask snorted a laugh, then pointed his gun at Thea. Felicity covered her mouth with her hand as she watched the horror unfold on the screen. Where were the police? How long had it been since she alerted them? “Your little sister over there?” the man continued. “Your friend Tommy Merlyn, of course. But what about the rest of these people?”

Felicity’s heart burned as it thumped against her chest watching the man shift both his cold eyes and the barrel of his gun back to Oliver. “Oliver…”

“We’re here for some money. Mr. Kord owes our boss a debt,” the man laughed. “Not unlike the one your father owes to him. But that’s not the game we’re playing here tonight.”

 _“Ma’am? Ma’am? Do you have eyes on the assailants?”_ she heard through her phone, the picture from the security still going.

“Yes!” she stage-whispered. “They’re in the main room in the front of the house. It looks like there are two people wounded and the rest, I’m counting seventeen, are at various points of the room. Four men with assault rifles it looks like are facing in every direction. A fifth is in a choke-hold by one of the victims, who tried to be heroic – Oliver Queen. He took his gun from him. Whatever you do don’t shoot him. He’s a good guy.”

_“All right ma’am, where are you?”_

“In the wine cellar,” she said. “I don’t think anyone knows I’m here. I mean if I did, I’d be toast,” she said cutting herself off before babbling. Her mind sharp on the moment at hand.

_“All right, ma’am, just sit tight.”_

“I can send you a feed to your phone so you can assess the situation to see if you think it’s safe to infiltrate,” she told them quickly.

“Um, right, all right,” the officer said, sounding surprised. “Thank you.”

Felicity held her breath, then watched as Ted Kord’s front door smashed open not more than ten seconds later.

“FREEZE!” A swat team filled the room, catching the villains by surprise.

“Thank God!” Felicity sighed. She was startled when an officer threw open the cellar door and came down the steps. “Ma’am. Come with me.”

The young officer escorted Felicity back into the thick of everything and soon she’d spotted Oliver, who was embracing Thea with a rattled Tommy standing close to him.

“You saved the day, man,” Tommy was saying as Felicity approached. Oliver looked up and noticed her, a small smile formed on his lips as he held his arm out to her.

“You saved the day,” he said, pulling her to his side. “You were in contact with the police before they came in, weren’t you?”

“We did,” said Felicity. “I was able to tap into the security cameras and feed the output into their devices. I also let them know not to shoot you.”

“Thanks,” Oliver said with a dry chuckle and a widened smile.

Felicity returned his grin. They held each other’s eyes for a moment. Over Oliver’s shoulder, she caught sight of a man in a black suit and black tie approaching with Candy on his arm -- Aiden. The tall slim man looked as if he’d just come in from a stroll through the gardens rather than just released from a hostage situation. “Excuse me for a second, Oliver,” she said, stepping around him and moving a few paces in front of him until she was standing before a man she hoped she’d never see again.

“Felicity Smoak. This is the last place I’d expect to find you," he said, brushing the lick of black hair that had fallen in his eyes back with his thin fingers. 

“The feeling’s mutual. Black suit? In the summer time?”

“Black’s always in style,” Aiden said smoothly. “Last time I checked, Smoak you were no fashion expert. Candy here on the other hand… You’ve met, right?”

“Yes, we have,” Candy said sugar-sweet.

Felicity pressed her lips together, eyes hard on Aiden. This was not the time to get into it with her ex, no matter how shocked she was to see him. “What are you doing here, Aiden?” she asked, feeling Oliver coming to stand behind her. She resisted the urge to reach back and clutch his hand. She could handle this on her own.

“I’m here to help Kord and Oliver Queen on a project,” Aiden boasted. “You trying to take my job away?”

Felicity snorted a laugh. “You’re worried about yourself and how to get ahead when Mr. Kord’s guests – and _you_ , for that matter – were just attacked by a bunch of men in black masks with machine guns?”

“And that is why I will always win, and you, my little dear, will never measure up.”

“Um, Felicity, who is this?” Oliver finally asked.

“Aiden Knox,” Aiden said before she could answer, hand jutting out to offer one of his notoriously firm handshakes.

“Oliver Queen,” Oliver said. If Felicity wasn’t mistaken, she could have sworn she saw a twinge of pain in Aiden’s eyes when Oliver squeezed his hand back.

“Oh, um, hello, Mr. Queen,” Aiden said, wiggling his fingers as if chasing the feeling back into them. Felicity resisted the urge to laugh.

“Ollie, Roy’s going to take me home,” Thea said, approaching with Tommy, Roy and Eden. She looked more than frazzled and Felicity felt badly for not noticing it before.  

“Yeah, I’m gonna head out too, buddy,” said Tommy, clapping Oliver on the back. “You drive here or take a taxi?”

“Drove,” Oliver supplied. “I’ve got Felicity.”

Aiden looked between Oliver and Felicity wide-eyed. “You and…” he dropped off, jaw half open, looking at a loss as he gestured between Felicity and the one and only Oliver Queen.

She blanched. She knew what she wanted to say to Aiden’s unspoken question, but she didn’t know what she should say. “Not exactly, we just—“

“Yes. Felicity and me,” Oliver said, not missing a beat. Felicity locked eyes with him for a second – wondering what on earth he was thinking and feeling a hell of a lot more than she should after just one night of kissing – until Kord approached and broke the spell.

“I’m so sorry about all of this everyone. It’s the risk you run when you’re a billionaire sitting on, well… I see you’ve met Aiden, Oliver.”

Oliver lifted his eyebrows.

“He’s the man I’ve tapped for the project,” Ted explained. “He’s touted as the brightest tech mind of our age. I’m sure, we can—“

“Let’s talk business later,” said Oliver. “Tonight has been trying for all of us.”

Kord nodded. “Yes, of course.” He turned his eyes on Felicity. “The police told me you were helping out. I don’t want to even ask why you were down in my wine cellar, but thank you.”

“You need to upgrade your security, Mr. Kord. The system is a bit outdated, but I went in and did a few upgrades for you after I got the system back online. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I, thank you, Felicity,” he said clearly impressed. “You sure you want to stick with Queen here?” he asked looking at Oliver. Felicity didn’t know if he was joking or not.

“I’m sure.”

“At least for now,” Oliver chuckled. “It’s still a first date.” Felicity’s stomach flipped. _Date?_

“Oh, so now it’s a date,” Ted said with a little laugh and a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

“It wasn’t officially, no,” Felicity explained feeling heat rise behind her ears and flush across her cheeks.

“We’ll have to fix that then, won’t we?” asked Oliver.

Candy clutched Aiden closer. “Well, I suppose we’ve both got our geeks for the night,” she joked.  

“Candace and I dated in boarding school, but now we’re just good friends," said Aiden.

“The best,” Candy replied.

Felicity frowned. Why was Kord being so casual about everything? And Aiden—he always had an angle. “Oliver, I think we should go. I want to check on the kids,” she said, ice sinking through her body.

“All right,” Oliver said, taking her hand and bringing her knuckles to his lips. Aiden cleared his throat. “Good meeting you, Aiden, wasn’t it?” the coldness in his voice was not lost on Felicity. After bidding the others goodnight, Oliver led Felicity outside. Cars circled the round-about driveway before spilling out of the gate onto the road, the guests leaving Kord’s party much earlier than any of them had expected. 

“There’s no way I’m going to agree to work with him, Felicity,” Oliver said as they went to find his car. The valets had been detained by the police as they’d been attacked and knocked out before the masked men, who had long been cuffed and removed from the scene, crashed the event.

“That’s not important right now,” Felicity said when he opened her car door for her. “I just want to check on the kids.”

As they whipped down Montauk Highway in the dark of the thick summer night beneath an almost blue moon, Felicity’s throat constricted. She tried calling Monroe, but she did not answer. She called again. Nothing. She tried the house. “Oliver, something’s wrong.” He did not have time to answer before Felicity’s phone went off. It was Susan.

“Felicity, where are you?” she said, her voice a bit frantic.

“I’m heading home from Ted Kord’s party,” she said in as calm a voice as she could muster.

“The one that was attacked and is all over my news alerts? I know. They said Thea Queen was there, and you told me you’d be with her tonight,” Susan shrieked. “Please tell me you didn’t take the kids with you.”

“No, I didn’t,” Felicity said. “I hired the nanny service. Remember?  We discussed this.”

“Of course, I remember,” she said her tone relaxing in such a way that let Felicity know that Susan had not remembered this but was relieved to hear it.

“I’m heading home now to check on them,” she told her.

“Good. I’m glad you’re okay. Really,” Susan said her voice soft and sincere. “Call me after you check on the kids. Do you need taxi money reimbursed?”

“No,” Felicity said, clearing away the lump swelling in her throat. “I’m … I got a ride.”

“All right then,” said Susan, her normal voice returning. “Tell Oliver and Thea I said hi.”

“Um, I will,” said Felicity. What did Susan think? She’d caught her lying about the girls’ night with Thea. But Susan wasn’t her mother, and she wasn’t saying anything else about it.  She was probably just waiting to pounce on her in person.

“Just tell Monroe to pay attention to her phone… especially when I’m out of town. She hasn’t been responding to my texts all night.”

“Night, Susan," she said, hanging up.

All night? What the hell? “I’m calling the service," she announced to Oliver. The main line was closed. Neither of the sitters were answering their phones either. Felicity had a bad feeling about this.

When they got back to the house, Felicity flew from the car up the steps. The front door was open. “Oh my God, Oliver!” Felicity rushed inside, and began going from room to room, calling out for the kids. “They’re not here!”

“Calm down, Felicity,” Oliver said, “we need to check upstairs—“

“Monroe, you cannon ball too much!” Harlan was saying, rubbing water out of her eyes entering from the backyard. Each of Felicity’s younger cousins wore their swim suits and had towels slung over their shoulders. Felicity rushed over and hugged them, starting with the biggest and finishing with the smallest.

“Where were you?” Felicity's loud voice was in full-effect though relief simultaneously flooded her body.

“We just went for a night swim,” Deville said, as one of the sitters entered the room holding a book and her phone.

“Why was the front door open?” she asked in a steadier voice.

The other sitter from the service appeared behind Felicity. “I’m sorry,” the short slight woman said. “I just went to make a quick call and didn’t have the key to unlock the door,” the woman said. “I needed to check on my mother. She’s been ill.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” said Felicity, happy the agency was billing Susan directly so she didn’t have to worry about that at the moment. She was upset. The door had been left open carelessly, and after the night she’d had, she just didn’t want to think about anything happening to the kids. “Well, thank you for all your help tonight, but we can take it from here.”

The two sitters got the message and filed out of the house after saying their goodbyes to the children. Monroe excused herself to grab a glass of water from the kitchen.

“Why did they send two sitters?” Harlan asked. “We’re not that bad, are we?”

“I don’t know. Maybe their policy is one sitter per two kids, just…” she trailed off, exhaustion creeping over her.

“What?” Harlan pressed.

“Nothing. Just get upstairs, okay?” Felicity knelt down and kissed the top of her head, then Deville’s. After the twins had left, she turned to Oliver. “You can go now, if you need to.”

“Not a chance,” he said, jaw set, eyes intense.

“What? Why not? What about Thea?”

“I’ll call her,” he said softly, taking out his phone. Felicity tried not listening as Oliver spoke to his sister in a quiet voice. “Maybe you should come here.” She watched him nod a couple of times then, “Okay. Call me in the morning.” He sighed. “That’s good. Okay talk to you later.”

“Thea’s safe. I’m staying. I can sleep on the couch.”

“Oliver’s staying?!” Monroe said, coming out of the kitchen and dropping her cell phone from her ear.

“Where was your phone earlier, by the way?” Felicity asked.

“Charging in the kitchen. I couldn’t take it outside while I was in the water anyway,” she said with a shrug. “Don’t worry. I just called my mother and told her we were fine. I saw about twenty missed calls between the two of you. See.” Monroe twirled around. “No broken bones.”

Felicity sighed, shaking her head.

“You don’t need to sleep on the couch, you know, Oliver,” Monroe said, passing him on the way toward the stairs. “We have lots of guest rooms, or you could share with F…”

“Monroe!”

Monroe laughed, stopping and turning back to them. “Hmm. I almost forgot. I want to know what happened tonight, but—not too many details. Not that you’d give them to me or anything.” Oliver and Felicity both opened and closed their mouths, stuttering and blushing. This time Monroe’s laughed rolled out of her and flooded the room. “You should see your faces.”

“What’s so funny?” Deville said appearing at the top of the stairs.

“Deville,” Felicity called up to him. “Why don’t you pick out a room for Oliver?”

“You’re staying over? Why?”

“Too tired to drive,” Oliver fibbed swiftly. Felicity was grateful. There was no reason for the kids to be worried just because she needed to calm down after everything tonight.

He did and then Oliver came back downstairs to Felicity’s surprise. She thought he’d settle in and see her in the morning or something. Monroe hugged Felicity, fully sobered from her laughing fit from earlier. “Oliver, since you’re here, can you work with me on archery? I ordered a bunch of stuff for the kids and me,” she said, stepping onto the bottom step of the staircase.

“Sure thing, Monroe.”

When the last of the kids were gone and a good two minutes followed by the sound of doors closing filled Felicity’s ears, she yawned dramatically. “So…So, uh…I’m pretty tired.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Long night.”

“Yeah,” he whispered, stepping closer to her, framing her face between his hands. He searched her eyes for a moment, as if waiting for her permission to close the distance between them. All Felicity could do was swallow, but when her eyes dropped to his mouth -- where he’d just licked his lips and she let a small whimper she had no intention of letting loose tumble out, his hesitation disappeared. His mouth was on hers slow and hot, the wild dance of their tongues curled her toes. She nearly came undone then he pulled back, resting his forehead to hers, panting and stroking the sides of her face with his thumbs.  “So what does this mean?”

“Whatever you want it to,” he whispered, dropping a small peck on her mouth.

“I think I want to take it slow,” she said. “I mean, with Susan and everything that happened tonight.”

He nodded. “But Felicity, Susan is not an issue for me.”

“She’s my cousin. I just don’t want anything to be awkward. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Anyway, thank you for staying with me tonight. My nerves are just a little raw.”

“Of course,” he said, stepping back and dropping his hands from her face. She scooped up his left one and squeezed it.

“That doesn’t mean that I don’t want you, Oliver.” She blushed. She’d never been bold about sex. Not like her mother or Susan, but she wasn’t them. She was Felicity Smoak, badass IT girl who possibly helped save nearly two dozen lives today.

“I know. I don’t want to rush either. I just…” He kissed her again the nuzzled his cheek to hers. Electricity radiated between them as his scratchy stubble glided along her skin. “You’re so soft.”

“I was just thinking…the opposite about you,” she said, moving her hands to smooth over his back.

He smirked. “But let’s take it slow,” he whispered in her ear. “I want to savor you…so it works for me.”

Felicity smirked, moving to look up at him. “Somehow I think you’re trying to charm me.”

“Maybe a little.”

“Too little too late,” she joked, taking his hand and leading him upstairs.

He stopped at her bedroom. “This is me, and…”

“That’s me,” he said, pointing to the room directly across the hall. “So even Deville is in on this?”

Oliver chuckled. “Goodnight Felicity.” What started off as a short kiss good night on the threshold of her door, turned passionate and ended with Oliver’s finger tips slipping into the waistband of her pajamas. “What happened to slow?” she panted.

“Nothing,” he replied, his voice ragged. “Nothing at all.” He dropped his lips to her neck and suckled the skin there for a moment before pulling back fully for a tiny kiss to her lips. “Goodnight, Felicity.”

She couldn’t resist giving him one last kiss on the cheek. “Goodnight, Oliver.”


	8. Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things take a turn in Oliver and Felicity's relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there's a lot going on in this chapter. I hope you don't hate it. Sorry I've been away for so long. I have a lot more projects going than I did before. :(

[](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

Oliver sat up most of the night looking out of the window and fighting the urge to knock on Felicity’s door.  The kids were here – very far down on the other end of the hallway.  But there he was at nearly three am, opening his bedroom door and staring across the threshold at Felicity’s room. He felt like a combination of all manner of things that were not Oliver: lovelorn, infatuated, tentative, uncertain – at least when it came to women. All he had to do was knock on her door, then he’d be with her. Sounded like a good thing to him. But when he stepped into the hallway, he was met with a sleepy-eyed Harlan, heading toward the door in question. “Oliver?”

“Just looking for the bathroom,” he explained.

“Your room has a bathroom inside of it,” she told him simply. She stood there as if waiting for him to go.

“Right,” he said, slipping back inside as the little girl opened then closed Felicity’s bedroom door.

Oliver had finally given into exhaustion not long before dawn, and when we woke up again, he heard voices downstairs. After he slipped his dress slacks back on and the white undershirt he’d worn the night before, a text alert sounded on his phone. The display screen showed a message from Kord, alerting Oliver about a meeting he'd set up with his new boy wonder.

_**Aiden can't wait to talk shop. The kid's a genuis. See you at 7?** _

Oliver wasn’t quite sure he was ready to leave Felicity, but he couldn’t stay there forever—especially in Susan’s house. Lord knew what she’d do if she found him there spending the night under her roof with anyone but her. Oliver knew she was possessive of him simply because it meant that she'd won at some kind of competition. But it wasn't a game he was interested in playing.

Oliver shut the door the guest room carefully and made his way down the hall, the voices from downstairs growing louder.  

“He said he was a friend of yours,” Monroe was saying.

“That’s right. I am,” an adult male replied. He sounded familiar, but Oliver couldn't quite place the voice.

“No. You’re not,” said Felicity. “And I’d like to know how you even found this address.”

Oliver did not know whether he should intrude or stay put. He knew what it might look like for Felicity to whomever that was if he came downstairs in last night’s rumpled clothing. He couldn't do that to her, so he stayed tucked away in a little nook at the top of the stairs and waited – in case it turned out that Felicity did need him. That was what he was there for, wasn’t it?

“Felicity. Did you forget who you’re talking to?” the guy went on. It sounded like Kord's new pet, Aiden. Oliver was a man of instinct for the most part, instinct he in the past drowned out with booze and women, at the moment, though he had no such solution. No, he just had to fight the urge to swoop in and kick the guy out through sheer will and practiced social graces.

“Monroe, take the kids out back to play but don’t leave the yard,” said Felicity.

“But what about breakfast?” the teenager complained.

“Go,” Felicity said in a sharp commanding voice. After a few seconds and sound of the backyard door opening and closing, she continued speaking, her tone just a strong as it had been with the kids. “I don’t know what game you think you’re playing coming here, but you can just leave.”

“I’ve got a proposition for you. You seemed pretty buddy-buddy with Queen last night, so I was thinking…” Oliver’s jaw set and he pressed his lips together. He hated this guy already for so many reasons. Now, he was playing with fire.

“I’m listening.” Oliver pictured her crossing her arms over her chest. His girl was strong. Not that she was his quite yet.

“That we combine our skills on this project he and Kord have going.”

“And what’s the catch?” Oliver couldn't believe Felicity was entertaining any of what this clown was saying. 

“In case you weren’t aware I stepped away from Wayne last week,” the little cretin explained.

“You mean you were fired,” she supplied bluntly. “Yeah, I got that memo.”

“Funny you did seeing as you don’t work there anymore.”

Felicity remained silent.

“So, we team up,” Aiden continued, the sound of his hands clapping and rubbing together filtering up the staircase and boiling Oliver’s blood. “Help me with this project to bring in Queen and Kord. Get them on our side as investors, allies.”

“Our side?”

“Yes. I want you to help me build my company. That and help me out with A2.”

“A2?" she asked, her voice lifting an octave. "That was through Wayne.”

“Not anymore," Aiden clipped out. “We’re taking the idea, and if all goes well, you can have a place at my company right by my side.”

“So I can do all the work, and you can take all the credit? Thanks, but no thanks.”

He snorted a laugh. “I know you’ve been helping Craig out behind the company’s back. I could get you blacklisted for that.”

“Okay, it’s time for you to leave before I go to the police and tell them all about your little plan.”

“Oh, come on, babe.”

Oliver waited a beat to see if he heard the guy leave.

“Leave, Aiden,” Felicity repeated.

Oliver looked down and saw the guy moving in on her. His resolve snapped, and without blinking, Oliver was down the stairs, shoulders straightened, chest high, eyes burning. He clamped his hands into a fist, keeping himself under a thin sheath of control. “I think you heard the lady.”

“Well, I…I see…” Aiden said, eyes darting between Oliver and Felicity – his meaning fully clear, “and with kids here. Felicity, I have to say I’m surprised at you.”

“Get out, Aiden,” said Felicity, whipping to the front door and opening it.

Oliver folded his arms and lifted an eyebrow. He felt his nostrils flare and his jaw clench. Aiden seemed to get the message. “All right, all right,” the shorter slighter man acquiesced then plastered on a Ken doll grin. “It was good to see you, Mr. Queen. She’s a…uh, great, uh, investment, if you can get her to stick around. I’ll see you tonight.”

Damn Kord. He had to pick this guy, didn’t he? Of course, Oliver wasn’t so sure all of this was a coincidence. This Aiden guy had an angle where Felicity was concerned that much was clear.  After they let Aiden out and Felicity went to go start breakfast for the kids, Oliver immediately picked up his phone to dial his business associate. He didn’t pick up, so Oliver left him a short and sweet message. “Kord, I am not going anywhere near anything to do with that so called genius you brought in. We’ll talk later.”

“Oliver, you didn’t have to do that for me,” Felicity said, coming out of the kitchen.

“I did it for myself. I’m not sure how long I can go without punching the guy.”

“Oliver…”

“Yes! He’s awake! Archery lessons, please!” shouted Monroe.

“First, breakfast," said Felicity, shaking her head, eye brows high with her hands on her hips. Oliver thought she'd never looked more adorable.

“Cereal?” Deville asked.

“You know it,” said Felicity, she laughed as the kids disappeared into the kitchen. “I’m not much of a cook. Would you like to stay for some cereal and archery?”

Oliver gave her a soft smile, brushing a strand of her over her shoulder then dropping a quick peck on her lips. “No place I’d rather be.”

Felicity grinned in response, pushing the weight of what had just happened out of the room.

***

Four days later, after spending time together with the kids in tow, Thea talked Felicity into letting her stay with the twins and Monroe while she and Oliver had a daytime date. Oliver drove Felicity up the coast. He took her to the Montauk lighthouse, where they made out a little more than they should have on the landing overlooking the Atlantic before ending up at a nice seaside restaurant for lunch. After lobster salads and ice-tea, they talked about his phone project over a light dessert and two cups of expresso.  

“Would you take a look at it?” he asked her.

“I don’t know.” Felicity sighed. She wanted to help, but the fact that Aiden was a part of it all made her uneasy.

“Just take a look at what it’s all about and let me know what you think. If you think it’s worth the investment, and if yes, then what’s the best way to take it to the next level.”

He looked so excited, eyes twinkling. How could she say no?  “All right. When?”

“What about now?” he said, putting his napkin beside his mostly eaten apple strudel dessert.

“Okay,” she said with a tiny laugh, “But I’d have to check on the kids.”

Thea picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Thea, how’s it going?”

_“We did Lemonade with Lucy again. Those kids are obsessed with that show. And now Harlan’s working on building some rocket in the backyard with Deville. Monroe is, of course, on the phone. She keeps asking me to go out, but I won’t let her.”_

“Good,” said Felicity, “she can be a little manipulator.”

_“Trust me, I know from experience. So you guys having fun?”_

“Yeah. Thank you. Listen, Oliver wants me to look at a project he’s working on so we may be a little later than I thought. Is that going to be okay?”

_“I actually… you know? It’s okay.”_

“Thea, we’ve been gone for hours. If you have somewhere to be—“

_“No. I’ll be here. Bye!”_

An hour later, Oliver and Felicity had long finished discussing his project and sat nestled together on the sofa in the den.

“You should have your own office in the house,” Felicity breathed between kisses.

“I should, but technically this is still my parents’ house. Sometimes I think,” he said, eyes dropping to her lips.

“You think what?”

“That I need to strike out on my own, even if means dropping everything.”

“Even this project,” she said, brushing her hand up and down his arm.

Oliver sat up and slouched back, chin tilted toward the ceiling for a moment. “I can’t do that.”

“But do you want to?”

“Sometimes. I just have no damn idea what I’d do. It makes me feel trapped sometimes.”

“I know what you mean?”

Oliver huffed a laugh.

Felicity folded her arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly who you are and what you can do?”

“That doesn’t mean I know exactly how to do it. The future is scary, Oliver, but I guess. Maybe we shouldn’t be so scared of making mistakes out of it.”

He took her hand and brought it to his lips. He brushed his lips over her knuckles softly then opened her hand and placed a kiss in the center of her palm, before bringing her hand up to lay over his cheek.

“Oliver…” Felicity whispered before their lips touched again.

“Felicity…” he trailed off, eyes searching hers, waiting for her to go on.

She swallowed, gathering her resolve. “I’ve only been with one other guy.”

Oliver expelled the wealth of air he’d been holding in his chest. He must have thought she was about to say something else. He looked utterly relieved. “Aiden?” he asked, taking her hands in his.

“No my ex from college. With Aiden, I wanted to take it slow.”

Oliver smiled. “Like we’re doing.”

Felicity laughed. “Like we said we’d do, but I don’t know how that’s exactly going to work out.”

Oliver pressed his lips together, then as if he could no longer control himself he pressed his mouth to hers. His tongue traced the contours of her lips. Felicity opened to him, and let him taste her.  He pulled back, resting his forehead against hers, panting. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”

“Well,” Felicity said, sitting back a bit, so she could finish her story. “It was a lot slower than this. We didn’t have the same… passion,” she said, blushing. “He didn’t like it, but he wasn’t pushy with anything other than taking my ideas. After I broke it off with him, he resorted to the backhanded comments you hear from him today. He wasn’t always like that.”

Oliver kissed her cheek. “We can wait. We said slow, remember?” He was so careful with her, so considerate, something inside her snapped and before she knew it, she was in his lap, grinding her pelvis into his and sucking on his tongue.

“Felicity, I just want you to know that want to be with you. From the moment I saw you, I knew…”

Felicity cut him off with a very enthusiastic _shut-the-hell-up_ - _Oliver_ kiss. Before long, their clothes had been discarded, and they lay flat on the brown leather sofa, Oliver hovering over her as she lay there in just her bra and panties. He brushed the back of his hand along her cheek. God, she was beginning to love it when he did that. No one had ever looked at her the way Oliver looked at her. No one made her feel the way Oliver made her feel – especially, not after – “Oh my God!” He slipped his hand into her panties, stroking his long thick finger up and down her core before dipping it inside of her. She bit her lip and squeaked. Then he started stroking her slowly in and out. She felt his length pressing into her thigh as he took his time pleasuring her. “You’re so fucking good at that.”

He chuckled dropping a kiss onto her cheek. “We can go slow, Felicity. We can make love in other ways,” he murmured, dropping his mouth to her neck and suckling her skin. He worked his finger in and out of her a few more times before sliding in another, his ministrations were both powerful and sensual. She wanted more, but at the same, time she was enjoying the way he was taking his time in spite of his very obvious erection. She groaned when her mind traveled to the idea of seeing him. That she could do that right that very second. Before she knew it, her hand was inside his boxers, pulling him free and stroking his length. “Felicity,” he said, covering her hand with his. “You don’t have to.”

“I know I don’t,” she said with what she hopped was a wicked smirk before licking her lips. “God, you’re …” She didn’t know what to say, but she knew exactly what she thought. Oliver was a very well-balanced man. Large muscles, large frame and large everywhere else – in the most beautiful way possible. “I want you, Oliver.”

“You sure?” he asked, voice strained, face awash with pleasure. He kissed her again.

“I’m sure,” she said, when they separated.

“Okay,” he said, his voice soft and cracking a little. She tingled everywhere, burned in more places than one, and then Oliver was inside her, rocking his body with hers, snapping his hips faster and faster as the time went on, elbows on either side of her, kissing her every few seconds. After a few minutes he climbed off her and pulled her onto her side. He slipped her leg over his and slid back into her from as he nestled her against his chest. His hand massaged her breasts, tweaking her nipples every so often before sliding up to her and touching her everywhere he could. Felicity was lost in pleasure, feeling his hard body sate hers was almost too much to bare. And then she was coming harder than she ever had in her life, and when that was over, Oliver turned her over again and plowed into her. Her arms clutched his biceps and her head thrashed from side to side, and then to her surprise because this had never happened to her in her, nor did she think it ever would, she came again just in time to feel Oliver falling over the edge of wild abandon, too. They labored for breath as Oliver kissed her face and neck and Felicity massaged his back muscles. 

“That was... Wow,” Felicity said, nuzzling his shoulder. He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I want to stay like this forever," she whispered.

“But…”

“But…we can’t,” she finished, tipping her head up and looking into his sad puppy eyes. She laughed. “Come on. We gotta go.” He poked out his lip for good measure before helping her up and finding her a blanket to cover herself as they made their way into the largest downstairs bathroom. "I could live in here," she said, remarking on the oversized hot tub at the center. Unfortunately, they had no time for sure luxuries. It was already nine o'clock, nearly four hours after they'd originally agreed to return home. Felicity knew the kids and Thea would understand, but she still felt a little guilty about it. They cleaned themselves up, taking separate quick showers and kissing every few seconds before they finally pulled themselves away from the privacy of the Queen’s summer home. They arrived back at Susan’s to find the door open. Felicity joked that it was the same way as last time they went out. “It must be a theme.”

Oliver followed Felicity inside with the hand on the small of her back. “Thea?” he called out to his sister. There was no answer.

“Monroe?” Felicity tried, a horrible ache twisting in her gut. It wasn't like the last time. This was worse, but she was probably just being paranoid again. “They must be out back again,” she said, stepping into the den. She gasped when she saw Thea sprawled on the floor, unconscious and bleeding.

“Thea!” Oliver rushed to his sister’s side.

“I’m calling 9-1-1.” Felicity hit her emergency speed dial before whipping into the backyard to check for the kids. There was no sign of them, she ran through the house. Nothing. When she got back to Oliver, Thea had opened her eyes and was coughing a bit. She knelt down next to them. “Thank God. Thea, what happened?”

“Two men came in, knocked me out, and—“

“Where are the kids? Are they hiding somewhere?” she asked, her throat tightening and chest constricting. _Please let them be hiding somewhere?_

Thea shook her head. “They took them.”

Felicity’s hand flew to her mouth, tears filling her eyes. “Oliver?”  

“We have to call Susan,” said Oliver.

Felicity nodded, frightened beyond in a way she’d never dreamed she could be. Her fingers trembled. She couldn’t seem to make her hands move.

“I’ll do it,” Oliver whispered as Thea tried sitting up. “Speedy, lie still.”

“I’m fine,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. “God, we have to find the kids. I’m so sorry, Felicity.”

Oliver tried reaching for her, but she moved out of his reach. This was her fault. “I should have been here.”

“What difference would that have made, Felicity?” 

“I don’t know. I’ll call her,” Felicity said, walking out of the room. 

"Damn it!" she heard Oliver shout as she swallowed the bile in her throat and punched in Susan's number.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments welcome. Thanks everyone for reading! XO Up next, let's see if Oliver and Felicity can find their way into becoming the heroes they are meant to be... or maybe they'll be too late. Stay tuned for more!


	9. Bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fitzpatrick kids are gone. What will Oliver and Felicity do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I lost the inclination to write this when it was no longer summer last year. I am working on some other projects outside of fic that take up a lot of writing time, but I always planned to come back to this one. Not sure if anyone is interested in this story any more, but I plan on finishing it up now that summer time is back. I've tried to make specific room for it in my schedule starting in a couple of weeks. I couldn't resist adding a new chapter before then. I hope you like it!
> 
> PS I had posted a mini-chapter a while ago which had sort of the opening of this one, but I went ahead and redid it and made it into the full chapter you'll read below.

 

[ ](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

 

The Susan Fitzpatrick tornado swept through the front of her summer home, knocking away men and women in blue, a hand-wringing Thea Queen, and the chief of the Southampton PD before wedging herself between Oliver and Felicity.

“Where were you?” she growled, pressing a heavy finger above Felicity’s heart.

“Where were _you_?” Oliver shot back, moving back to Felicity’s side and placing a hand on her shoulder. Felicity tensed. She wanted to make this right with Susan, and Oliver as comforting as he’d been before she’d arrived was now making her tense.

“What are you doing here? Manipulating her? Distracting her so that my children—“ Susan broke of and bit back what looked like a sob. Felicity stepped away from Oliver’s touch and took her cousin’s hands.

“Oliver and I have been thinking of a plan. We have an idea of who might have done this.”

“And what do the police say?”

“They are pointing toward someone taking them for ransom because of your celebrity.”

Susan slaps a hand over her mouth. “That’s exactly it.”

“We’re not so sure,” said Felicity.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Susan snapped at her cousin. “I trusted you to take care of them. You’re the one---the only one in the family people trust one hundred percent. The stable smart little Felicity. And you,” she spat, whipping around to face Oliver. “You distracted her with your…charm and whatever the hell you think you’ve got that women want. Knowing that she’s naïve and not at all your type.” She now looked back and forth between them. “Now the kids. Did either of you consider them during your little game of hook-up-with-the-nanny?”

“Susan…” Felicity started but was cut off as the movie star turned on her heels and slid across the room to speak with the police chief. Felicity could feel the fear and desperation rolling off her cousin. She had every right to hate her at that moment. This was her fault. She should have been home with them.

“Felicity…It’s not your fault. It’s not my mine either,” Oliver whispered.

She must have been muttering to herself out loud. Too upset to be embarrassed by it, she lifted her eye brows and folded her arms across her chest. “Oh, it’s not, is it?”

Oliver’s jaw worked over for a beat. “No. It’s not. Now, we think that maybe Aiden had something to do with this, so let’s try to follow that lead.”

Felicity’s shoulders sagged. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Oliver was right. There was no time for playing the blame game no matter how much Susan wanted to.

Hours later, the chief of the Southampton police occupied most of Susan’s time. Felicity, heart in her throat, sits nervously in the den, pressing the balls of her hands into her eyes, feeling utterly useless. Aiden was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, Oliver got the police to take their suspicion somewhat seriously and sent someone over to his hotel to look for him. But they could tell they were not convinced Aiden’s motives made sense to them.

“Felicity?” Oliver’s soft voice filtered through her haze. She looked up to see him standing with his hands stuffed in his pockets in the door frame that led to the kitchen. “Felicity, I think we should head over to my place. I have a lot more tech for you there, and maybe we can try tracking Aiden that way.”

Felicity stood up. “Yes. Let’s go!”

Before either of them could move further, Susan entered the room from the door that led to the foyer, her eyes red rimmed, face drained. “I want to talk to you, Oliver.”

“We were just going to…”

“Now.” Her voice was left little room to argue. “In my office.” She turned on her heels, clearly expecting Oliver to follow. However, he stayed where was, blue eyes full of apology as they locked on Felicity’s.

“Just go, Oliver. If you want, I can meet you at your place after.”

“No! I mean, I’d rather us go together.”

Felicity sighed. She was anxious to do something, but the look in his eyes melted her heart. He was worried about her. “I’ll wait for you right here, okay?”

He nodded once and went to join Susan in her office.

***

Oliver slipped inside of Susan’s office. “How’s Thea?”

“She’s home with Roy. I sent a doctor to check on her. She’s good.”

Susan nodded, seeming to mull something over in her mind until she looked up at Oliver with a hard glare. “What are you _really_ doing here, Oliver? Felicity is a vulnerable young girl.”

Oliver ran a hand over his face and heaved a heavy sigh. “Is this really what you need to concern yourself about right now?”

Susan opened and closer her mouth, then slipped her eyes shut. “This is my fault.”

“Susan…”

“No, Oliver. I should have known you’d… now look what happened!”

Oliver held back from defending himself. Susan was not in a rational state of mind.

“Look. I don’t want to upset you, but this thing with Felicity and me, I just…It’s not something I think we should talk about right now given the circumstances, but please know that I’m not trying to trick her or disrespect her. I just… I don’t know.”

Susan ran her hand through her hair. “Fine. I don’t care what you do. I just want my babies back. What am I going to do, Oliver?” A sob bubbled from her chest. “I’m such a terrible mother.” Oliver pulled her into his arms and rocked her for a moment. When he pulled away, Susan kissed his cheek.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For caring, I guess,” she supplied before heading toward the shut door.

“Susan?”

She turned back to him.

“Felicity and I are going to work a lead from my place,” he said, holding in a wince in preparation for Susan’s loud voice. He knew it was nowhere near as stern and potentially frightening as Felicity’s could get but it was nothing to sneeze at.

“What lead?” she asked, her voice soft, tired, yet tinged with a bit of hope.

“Aiden. It’s really a lead, but more of a deductive hunch.”

“Who is Aiden?”

“Felicity’s ex-boyfriend. He showed up at Kord’s party out of nowhere, and is now trying to move in on a project I’ve been working with Kord.”

“I don’t see the connection,” said Susan.

“That’s what the police said, but he’s suddenly missing. We’ll let the police hand their theories, while we handle ours.”

“Just be careful, okay?”

“Of course.”

Nearly 48 hours pass and nothing. Felicity had not slept, no sign of Aiden or the kids anywhere. Susan was at the precinct, most of the time, seeming to dismiss Oliver and Felicity’s hunt as a mere means of distraction to ease their worries or feel useful when they really were not. They spent most of the time in high tech room that had once been a private gallery for family paintings and in the basement level of his estate. The only connecting rooms were a small bathroom with a shower, a kitchenette and one of Oliver’s many workout rooms. The room had one long table set up with computers and TVs with surveillance latched to the ceiling above. Two leather sofas and a coffee table were at the back of the room and a conference room table was to the side of that.

“I know it’s him. Kord says he’s home visiting his sick mother. But facial recognition hasn’t placed him anywhere on the grid. Wouldn’t he be popping out to the store or something if he was home taking care of his supposed ailing mother?”

“I know this I hard, but we will find them. I feel like we’re out of options, Oliver.”

“Come on, let’s get you some food and then maybe a little rest,” he suggested, dropping his hand to her shoulder and squeezing. Felicity opened her mouth to protest but the yawn that stretched her mouth wide had her acquiescing to his suggestion pretty quickly.

About a half hour after Felicity dozes off on the sofa with Oliver sitting vigil next to her, but not touching, a call came in.  “Felicity Smoak, you have an incoming call…” She’d hooked their phones up to Oliver’s equipment so any incoming calls would be recorded and on speaker. Felicity threw the blanket off and run to the computers and answered.

“Felicity?”

“Monroe! Are you okay, honey? Where are you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are your brother and sister with you?”

“Yes, but…”

A gasp followed by the call being instantly cut tore through the room.

“Monroe? Monroe? Damn it!”

They spent the rest of the  night trying to trace the call and follow any small leads, but nothing. Finally, Felicity just collapsed on the sofa. When she woke, she found herself tucked into a bed upstairs and in a pair of soft pajamas. Light streamed through a crack in the closed curtains, telling her that it was morning. She looked around the large room. It smelled like Oliver and didn’t look like a guest room. A book was on the nightstand, an alarm clock was pre-set to 7am but not on, and it just looked lived in. She noticed a note beneath a cup of tea on a saucer.

_I hope this doesn’t get cold. Drink up. It’ll calm your nerves. I had your clothes cleaned and some new ones for you brought in. If you prefer to go to Susan’s to grab more, we can do that, too. I only just realized we’d forgotten to pack your things. I hope you don’t mind, but I gave you my room. I took one of the guest rooms instead. My bed is much more comfortable._

_See you at breakfast or lunch, which ever you prefer. And, Felicity, we are going to find them. I swear my life on it._

_~ Oliver_

 

Felicity decided to go for a run before trying to face Oliver. She needed some time alone with her guilt. This really was all her fault. Rather than staying on the grounds, She opted to take a scenic path just beyond it. The green around her soothed her in a way she couldn’t explain. Susan was right. She should have been with the children. How could she let this happen. She was an overachiever at everything. She should have taken her job of protecting them more seriously. About fifteen minutes into her run, a familiar male voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Felicity? Hey!”

She screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Felicity, it’s just me.” Felicity found herself looking into the face of her old work friend from Wayne.

“Craig? How did you know I’d be here? What were you spying on me?”

“No, I…yes, I’m… I found out you were at Oliver Queen’s and as soon as I got here I saw you take off on this running path, so I followed you. I tried calling your cell, but I wasn’t getting a good signal out here.“

“Sorry. I just I’m on edge,” she said, knowing she should full on be weirded out by his sudden appearance but was not. She trusted Craig more than most.

“I wanted to give you something. It’s some tech I’ve been working on. I know you said you were going to try to find the kids, but it’s got a lot of bugs. I think you may be able to fix what’s wrong and—“

“What is it?”

“It’s a back-tracing device.”

When Felicity and Craig entered what Felicity was now calling the Queen lair in her head, they heard a clanking noise coming from Oliver’s adjacent gym.

“What’s that noise?”

Felicity went to investigate, shrugging off Craig’s warning not to. She found a gorgeous shirtless Oliver moving up a tall salmon ladder rung by rung. He smiled when he spotted her moving down expertly until he was low enough to jump to his feet. “Wow.”

Oliver slapped a towel over his shoulder and took a swig of water. “It’s nothing.”

“I just wanted to… We… uh….”

“We?”

“Felicity! Get out here!” Craig’s voice peeled into the gym. When they reached the security room, Craig had the television on and Susan’s face filled the screen. Felicity watched her cousin relate a plea for the return and rescue of her children.

After somewhat awkward introductions, Oliver appeared to be a little jealous of the unassuming Craig, which under normal circumstances would have made Felicity chuckle. And Craig just seemed intimidated as hell by the tall muscular Queen heir.

Felicity and Craig set up the software. In minutes, Felicity had fixed Craig’s bugs. “Kord is not letting anyone else touch my project when this is all over,” Oliver remarked.

“I think we got him!”

The phone rang and, to no surprise to them, Aiden picked up. “I see you’ve figured it out, Oliver Queen. And now for the real fun.”

“If you hurt those kids, I swear to God…” Oliver threatened.

“Aww. They are just fine. In fact, I’ll show them to you.”

Their screens were suddenly splashed with video surveillance of a large room with one large bed in it, a table filled with children’s books, three chairs, three empty classes and three empty plates. Monroe sat on the bed, reading to Harlan while Deville bounced a rubber ball against the wall over and over.

“I’ve been taking care of them very nicely.”

“What do you want with them, you sick bastard?” Felicity barked.

“I’ll let you know when we meet face-to-face.”

Oliver and Felicity share looks of confusion before Felicity looked back at the surveillance footage. Oliver covered her hand with his as a sob rose in her throat. “We’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt them,” said Oliver.

“Wonderful.  I’d like you and Miss Smoak come to the location I will flash cross your screen for three seconds. And we’ll go from there. No, it’s not money, I’m after, Mr. Queen. Not in the short term at least. See you, there – alone. If you alert anyone, I’ll send gas into the little chamber I have set up for the kiddies….all in one place. Makes it so clean.”

“No!” Felicity cried out when the footage was cut. **415 Shoreline** **Parkway** appeared on the screen then was gone.

“That’s in the middle of Fire Island,” said Oliver.

“Craig. You stay here. Oliver is there someone you can have come wait with him?”

Oliver nodded. “My friend John Diggle. He’s got a key. Thea should be kept out of this as much as possible.”

“I agree.”

They stormed out of the house like two heroes on a mission. It was frightening beyond belief but felt strangely right. They were going to get those kids back no matter what it took.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are my life's blood. If you're so inclined, drop me a line aka share your thoughts. :)


	10. And switch....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver meet up with Aiden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... I updated again! I hope to get more to you soon! Thanks so much for the support and excited messages. I'm so happy you guys even remember the story!

Felicity and Oliver arrived at the time and location Aiden prescribed, along the shoreline, near a smattering of warehouses. They left Oliver’s car behind and walked a few paces to the edge of the road. The dark sky loomed above them taunting the possibility of death. The black waves of the ocean crashing against the surface in the distance only added to the ominous feeling threatening to rip her heart out. If the circumstances had been any different, Felicity might've run away. But she couldn't run, she wouldn’t run. Oliver seemed to notice her anxiety. He looked over at her, sending the soothing energy of his spirit to her.

"He said 9 o'clock, right?"  
  
"Yeah."

“I’m so glad you’re here with me.” She couldn’t think of anyone she’d trust more in a situation like this, and she hadn’t even known him for very long.  
  
One minute passed. Two minutes passed. A foghorn blue in the distance. The old lighthouse not more than a mile away, glared at them. Was it watching over them? Or was it taunting them like the suffocating sky?  
  
"Oliver, where is he?"  
  
Anxiety continued to gnaw at Felicity's chest. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe they should've gone to the police. They had a real lead this time, and the police had guns. Oliver had a gun, but Felicity insisted that he not bring it as not to provoke Aiden in case the kids were nearby. Stupid, too. Damn it. They should have sent for back up or gotten help with their plan.  But they couldn't endanger the kids’ lives. They had to try it this way. A car approached, illuminating the street. Oliver pulled Felicity back into the shadows. The car rolled by and continued down the road.  
  
Felicity let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. "Maybe he's not coming. Maybe it was just a big trick."  
  
Of course, it was then Aiden decided to step out of the shadows a few paces behind them, emerging from the side of a tall crate outside of a small warehouse, holding up a gun. Oliver tried to hold her back but she advanced on him, gun or no gun.  
  
"Where the hell are the kids?" she asked as Oliver stepped up behind her.  
  
Aiden laughed, holding the gun right at her. "I forgot how hard to control she is."  
  
"Enough with the insults and games,” said Oliver. “We’re here. Now give us the kids.”

Aiden just laughed again.

"Please, Aiden. Just tell us where they are. We’ll do whatever you want us to do.”  
  
"Why should I tell you?"  
  
“Because if you don't, I'm going to rip your face off,” Oliver promised.  
  
"Is all that muscle just a bunch of talk or do you really think you can beat me?" spat Aiden.  
  
Oliver kept his gaze hard. "If you don't bring those kids back to us in the next 10 minutes consider yourself dead."  
  
The wiry man smirked. "Well, if you put it like that, I suppose I have no choice."  
  
Aiden pressed a little button on the side of his coat with his fingers. A hideous buzzing noise filled the air then the door of one of the smaller warehouses popped. Out stepped a small girl, dark hair hanging limply over her shoulders, trembling, eyes wide with fright.  
  
"Harlan!"  
  
"Felicity!"  
  
The little girl sprang toward her cousin as a desperately hopeful look bloomed on her face, but before she could to her Aiden held out his free hand. “STOP!” Harlan froze. Before they knew what was happening Deville had rushed out and grabbed Harlan’s hand. He pulled her ahead, running toward Oliver and Felicity.

“Deville, no!” Felicity cried out, frightened beyond belief that Aiden might shoot them. But they made it into her arms, burying their faces in her stomach. Monroe emerged next, eyes filling with tears. Her pant leg was torn at the knee and there was blood on it, causing Felicity to gasp. She rushed forward but Aiden bound to her side and snatched her up in a chokehold.

“Two outta three ain’t bad.”

Tears leaked down Monroe’s cheeks. It took everything inside her not to rush at the man, but she couldn’t risk him hurting her.

“Felicity,” Oliver whispered, dropping a hand onto her shoulder, eyes trained on Aiden the entire time. “Take the kids and put them in the car. I got this, okay?”

“Oliver,” Felicity’s voice croaked out. The fear she had beating in her heart was like nothing she’d ever felt before.

“Baby, it’s okay…Just…” He squeezed her shoulder.

“Okay… Okay.”

Felicity gathered the kids close and hurried them off to the car. “Deville, Harlan. Keep this door locked,” she said once they were safe inside. “And stay down.”

“Felicity, don’t go out there,” Harlan begged as she slid down onto the floor of Oliver’s car with her brother to stay safe. She started to sob. "Please, Felicity! He's a bad man! He wants you. He's trying to do something bad, and he needs you. We heard him on the phone."

“Shh. Shh. Shh. I’ll be okay. I promise.”

Deville gathered Harlan close. "I've got her, Felicity. Be careful."

Felicity closed the door behind the kids and inched up behind Oliver only to hear Aiden’s boisterous laugh. “Well, it looks like our girl is back.”

“If you let her go and take me,” said Oliver.

“The answer’s the same as it was a second, Mr. Queen. I don’t want you. I want _her_.” His cold eyes slipped over to pierce Felicity with them.

“And I told you that’s not happening," Oliver growled.

“Oliver?” Felicity asked, stepping back beside him.

“I told you I had this.”

Felicity slid her and up Oliver’s jacketed bicep and felt it tense as she squeezed. “I’ll do it. Take me, and just let her go.”

“No, Felicity…”

“I have to, Oliver.” 

She could see in Oliver's face that he knew it, too, and hated the world for it. “What do you want with her?” Oliver asked through gritted teeth.

Felicity started walking slowly toward them. Monroe looked so scared but simultaneously brave. Damn the bastard for putting these kids through this. “Just let her go, and I’ll do whatever you want.”

"Felicity, you don't have to..." Monroe started.

"Shut up, kid! You're not what I came here for," sneered Aiden as Felicity took another step.

“Wait. Stop right there,” Aiden demanded. “Before I let her go. You have to promise not to put up a fight.”

“Okay, I promise. Just let her go.” Felicity inched closer and closer to Aiden, ignoring the heat of Oliver’s angry gaze nearly penetrating the shirt on her back.

To their surprise, Aiden freed Monroe. The thirteen-year-old ran behind Oliver as Aiden snatched up Felicity. “All right, Queen. Take the little brats and get out of here. I’ve got what I came for.”

Oliver turned around to face Monroe. “Monroe, honey, get in the car and keep low. I’ll fix this.”

Monroe shot a glance at Felicity then nodded like a solider and sprinted toward Oliver’s car. When she was safely inside, Oliver turned back to Aiden and Felicity. “I’m taking her, Queen. But I promise I won’t harm a hair on her pretty blonde head. After all, I need it in working order for what I have planned.” He started dragging her away.

“Oliver…”

Oliver looked like he was devising some kind of plan when Aiden clicked another button on his jacket, igniting a wall of fire sparked from a strategically cut wire and a line of gasoline.

“FELICITY!!!!!” She heard Oliver’s cries as Aiden pulled her into the warehouse.

“It’s gonna be just like old times, Felicity. You and me taking on the world.”

Felicity struggled against his hold on her. He really did all this just to get to her? Why involve the kids? Why not break into Susan’s and take her? Or maybe he’d meant to do that, and she hadn’t been there. The only thought that kept her from losing it was the knowledge that Oliver had the kids, and that they were safe. “What do you want with me?”

“Like I said, I need that brain of yours. Now, let’s go…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos are kind. Comments are lovely. Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the chapter. I'll be updating this one til it's done and participating when I can in the Olicity Hiatus Fic-A-Thon. Happy summer!


	11. Til Hack Do You Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aiden is crazy. Oliver is worried. Felicity is strong as hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long with this one! We've got about two more chapters and then that's that! I can't wait. I think one big angsty action chapter and then another one of a very different kid. Thanks so much fandom for sticking with this story for so long. If you're new to it, thank you so much for giving it a shot! xoxo

[ ](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

 

With the cold tip of gun nestled in the crevice at the base of her skull, Aiden shoved Felicity through a small door blindfolded. She listened to every sound that was made, trying to get a clue as to where he’d taken her. She smelled oil and felt concrete beneath her feet – they had to be in a garage of some sort. After about a minute and half, Aiden stopped them and hit a something to the right. It sounded like a lever. A buzzing noise filled her ears followed by the sound of a heavy door scraping open. “Keep going, Smoak,” he snarled, pressing his gun harder into the back of her head. She stepped forward onto some carpeting as the heavy door behind her scraped shut again.  Cool air whipped around her on the otherwise muggy night. The sound of machines whirred in the background. The heat from them tickling her pores. _Computers._

The gun left the back of her head but move quickly to the side of her neck. Then the blindfold came off. Just as she’d expected. Four high-tech computers lined a work station in front of her along with two computer chairs. “Sit.” Aiden pushed her forward.

Felicity only budged an inch, remaining on her feet. “You know, if you wanted me you could have kept the kids out of this.”

“I like to play games, keep the stakes high.”

Felicity wheeled around on him. “You like to play games? Do you know you’ve probably damaged them for life.” Other than the computer station, the room was filled with boxes and had an old black leather sofa against the wall near the door. Felicity’s eyes flicked up to the ceiling. Two rather large vents were at the top of the vaulted ceiling. Not that she could use those for anything. But maybe her rescuers could. She was going to get out of this. A slimy little weasel like Aiden was not going to get the better of her.

“Kids are resilient,” said Aiden. “I like to make keep my work high quality. Without all of this … _drama_ … you might not be so keen to follow my instructions.”

If he didn’t have that gun trained on her, she would have rung his puny little neck. “They are impressionable. You are an evil bastard.”

“Now, now, my love.” Felicity grimaced as Aiden stepped forward. He pressed the gun to her cheek and slid it up and down her skin. A shiver shook her to the bone. “Mmm. You like this, don’t you? The thrill of seeing all this power in my hands. It turns you on, huh?”

Felicity kept her chin high but did not speak.

“You’ve always been such a cold fish. Is this what it takes to turn you on? Is that what you like about Queen? Does he tie you up? Knock you around.”

Felicity bit on her tongue. The urge to spit on him pulsed through her body.  

“He’s the reason you don’t want me anymore, right?” Aiden went on. “But that’s okay. I have Candy. She’s a lot more fun than you ever were. Just last night I was between her legs making her scream my name. Such an eager one that girl. So helpful. So willing to do what it takes to rise to the top.”

Felicity ground her teeth together, willing herself not do say or do anything rash or ask the wrong questions. She knew he was insinuating Candy was a part of whatever he’d cooked up. And it made Felicity’s stomach sour to think that could be true. No matter what she thought of the woman, she didn’t want to believe she would do anything to hurt Susan’s kids.

Aiden chuckled, his eyes wild with mischief.

He was testing her, trying to push her buttons, but she was not going to let him. “Just tell me what you want so I can get out of here.” This was as close to placation as she could stand.

Aiden barked a laugh. “Fierce little warrior, aren’t you?” So, she wasn’t selling docile little victim so well. She tried a different approach.

“I’ve learned ferocity is an essential skill in life,” said Felicity.

“Sit,” Aiden commanded a second time.

This time Felicity did as he asked. _Damn gun._ She slid into the gray high-backed chair and pulled it close to the mainframe.  “What do you want me to do? Finish the algorithm? Write you a new program?”

“I want you to hack in to Kord Industries and… Queen Consolidated.”

Her heart dropped into her stomach. _No_. “What? Why?”

“I need to know what each company is working on,” Aiden said, keeping the gun trained on her a few paces to her right before moving to type a few things onto the keyboard in front of her. The computer lit up with what looked like a to-do list. It outlined what Aiden or whomever he was working for wanted – the top secret projects from each department at both companies, particularly Kord’s arms department and Queen’s tech branch. They wanted details on contracts, plans, algorithms, and codes.  

“I don’t get this. You know about Kord. He’s working with Oliver on that super phone. Kord hired you to help. I don’t understand what you want all the rest of this for.”

Aiden dropped his gun to Felicity’s surprise and paced back to the sofa. He slumped down on to it. Instantly, Felicity was out of her chair, heading for the door. Aiden held the gun up again. “Look, I really don’t have to use this gun. I have much better leverage to use against you,” he said in a bored lazy tone that ate at her bravado.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your ickle bickle family over there in that big house? Those kids? Your sexy ass cousin. Wow. How are you related to her again? Damn. She is so hot. Not gonna lie she’s starred in my dreams more than once. In fact, when we were dating, I used to think about her when I was kissing you – after I found out she was related to you. It was the only thing that could keep me interested. That and getting you to share that brain of yours.”

“You’re such a dick. You think that hurts me, to hear you fantasized about Susan? I could care less what delusions you liked to feed yourself off of.”

“Right. Because you have rich boy now?” He chuckled. “Don’t fool yourself into thinking he’ll stick around for you too long. He probably just has a nanny fetish. After he itches his scratch, he’ll be back to the kind of women he usually goes for.”

For the first time that night, Aiden’s words actually got to her and she couldn’t stop the tear from slipping down her cheek.

“Not so tough now, are you, honey? And that house you live in with the rich family you’re mooching off of this summer? I have it rigged to blow if you don’t do as I say.”

Felicity gasped. “You’re lying.” She bumped her tear away with the back of her hand, locking a hard stare on him.

“Nope. Haven’t told one lie in the past … oh, hour or so.”

“If you were so good at wiring up a house, why can’t you hack into QC or Kord on your own?” spat Felicity.

“Kord, well, I was close, but someone put up an insane firewall the other night and now, well, I’m locked out. And QC – after your boy wonder put the company at risk and let … do … well, they’re firewalls are the most impenetrable in the world. Only the top hacker could break in. That happens to be you, and you’re so white hat.”

“You have to be working for someone else.”

“You’re smart girl, Smoak. Someone who will fund my future and give me the power I deserve.”

“Who is it?”

“Ah ah. Why don’t we get started with our work?”

Felicity turned around and sank back into the chair she’d been sitting in earlier. How was she going to get out of this? Her mind twisted and turned, calculated then bloomed. She knew exactly what to do.

***

Oliver delivered the children home to a very grateful Susan. He told the police what was going on, but he didn’t trust them to find Felicity. The boundaries had changed. This was the woman he was starting to feel like he couldn’t live without. He needed to do it on his own. Playing the dutiful citizen, he answered their questions then drove home. When he got there, he put his head together with Diggle and Craig. This was his strike team: the target? Aiden. The goal: bringing his girl back to him.

“This is huge gamble, Oliver,” Dig was saying as they drove through the lightless streets of Southampton. “Doing this without police back up.”

“There is no gamble. We use this phone to trace Felicity’s location. It’s one of the features. She worked on it and did some amazing little magic to it right before…” He didn’t want to fill in right before the kids had been taken – right before they’d made love for the first time – right before that little asshole had twisted his delicately coming together new existence on its axis. “Anyway, I know it’s working.”

“But you said Aiden has some of the tech via Kord. He could trace the use of whatever signal is sent out to her phone.”

“Gotta take the risk. I just wish she was here to do this. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” he said, pushing various buttons trying to get the proper screen to come up. After about a minute, he said, “I think I got it. She made it sort of easy to navigate.”

“Honor that brain when she gets back to you.”

“Yeah.” A few more seconds passed of him working Felicity’s new changes to his super phone. “It worked. Her phone is still on. It’s got 8 percent battery life – and she’s off Fire Island and at a location in Sag Harbor.” Oliver typed the address into Google Maps. “It looks like it’s a house.” He would have felt proud of himself – since he was so tech-illiterate if Felicity’s life wasn’t fucking in danger right now. An ugly roar erupted from his throat without warning.  

“Calm down, man,” admonished Diggle.

The blood in his veins scorched his skin; his mind spun like an angry drunk’s; his chest tightened as if he was on his last breath. He pounded his fist into the dashboard. “What the fuck does this guy want with her?” He pushed back the tears pricking in his eyes. He was panicking, plain and simple, and he could not panic, not when she needed him. He willed himself to cool  down.

“We’ll find out when we get there,” Diggle said, his voice calm.

“What if she’s hurt or…”

“Don’t talk like that, Oliver,” he snapped. “You can’t talk or even think like that. You got me?”

“You’re right. She’s gonna be fine….She has to be.” He believed it now. It was the only way he’d keep his head on, and that was what he was going to do – for her, anything for her.

Dig stopped the van about two yards away from the address Oliver had given him. “Can you call Craig? Let him know we’re here?” Oliver asked, slipping from the passenger side.

“Of course, but you’re not going in alone.”

“I’ll be fine. Can you stay on comms with me and key Craig in?”

“Fine but I’m right behind your ass if you’re not out in fifteen.”

Oliver pulled a quiver filled with arrows and a bow from the back of the van. Armed with everything he needed, he shut the rear door. A minute later, he was pressed up against the side of the cape cod farm house, inching around its pale blue wall to a set of back stairs that led into what looked like a cellar. He ran down and shoved his foot through the door. It crashed open. He jetted through the cemented-floored storage room he’d found there, slinking through the darkness toward a light that spilled through a large door at the back. Arrows slung on his back, several filled with denotators as lethal as any gun in circulation, he pulled open the door then nocked an arrow ready to fire. The room was empty. “DAMN IT!”

He released a heavy sigh he chest had been holding hostage and stepped further into the room where he found a note:

_Well, played, Mr. Queen. But your sweet Felicity is not here. But not to worry. She is in good hands. Leave her to me. Go home, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see her again in just a few days. Nightie, night, Mr. Queen._

The room cloaked in darkness. Fire ignited in the far-left corner then licked the walls as it spread from plank to plank. Oliver turned to leave, but the door he’d entered from  had somehow sealed shut. The sound of laughter echoed through the room. It sounded to like a recording. As if his presence had trigged both it and the fire – a trap just for him. He’d been so stupid. Oliver spotted a window at the far end, and shot an arrow through it. The glass shattered, leaving him room to easily climb out of it. When he’d done so, he slumped onto the ground outside of the blazing building. He scrambled away from it and looked around for something to put out the fire, but there was nothing. The fire continued spread, and he had to run. He needed to get to Felicity. What the hell was this guy playing at? He was insane. Burning down a house just to taunt him? His fear for her safety multiplied. They were dealing with a mad man.

As Oliver ran back up the street, cursing the situation, the phone in his pocket buzzed. He pulled it out to find the screen’s image feeding into a computer screen that was typing. He stopped halfway to the van in the middle of the asphalt-covered road. Was this another trick?  He found he could also hear what was going on from somewhere. He continued toward the van, not wanting to lose time, eyes still on the phone. He sucked his breath – it was Felicity. Her beautiful voice was loud and clear.

_“I’m not going to hack Oliver’s father’s company for you.”_

“What the hell?”

_“It’s just money, Felicity. Money or the lives of the ones you love? You choose.”_

“Shit!” This had to be Felicity’s doing. She’d found a way to connect him to her without that asshole knowing.

The phone pinged again as he got closer to the van – The screen was still there but an address typed itself across it. He pulled the passenger side door open. “She’s still on Fire Island!” he told Diggle. “101 Shoreline Drive. About two miles from where I left her. Straight down the road near the end of the island.”

They zipped down the road toward the bridge that would take them to her. Oliver called Craig to tell him what he’d learned and what he was seeing across the screen. Felicity was beginning the hack, likely at gun-point. Oliver’s blood boiled. If that bastard hurt her… Craig said he’d try to block whatever Felicity was doing but that might be difficult. After about a minute, Craig realized Felicity was hacking into the companies but not going as deeply as she could. _“She’s trying to stall,”_ said Craig.

“I don’t care if she gives over the whole damn corporation as along as she’s okay.”

_“You say that now, Oliver, but—“_

“I’ll talk to you later, Craig.” Oliver didn’t want to hear it. He just wanted to get to his girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love you for kudos. Adore you forever for comments. ;) Thanks for making my first longer Olicity fic such a fun experience to work on. Hope you enjoyed this update. More to come soon!


	12. Almost There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A beta-less update! Oliver finds Felicity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this!

 

[ ](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

The screen on Oliver’s regular cell phone blinked with message after message – shifting from his mother to his father to Thea and back again. QC had been hacked, and they were panicked. Oliver couldn’t make himself respond, to move his mind to any portion of reality that didn’t directly involve rescuing Felicity.

_I’m not surprised you wouldn’t pick up. You’re such a disappointment._

His father’s jab provided a dull sting, but it soon melted into the thick knot of worry burning in his chest.

As Dig pulled up to the location, Oliver’s super phone pinged to life again. He would have powered it down if her voice hadn’t poured out of it.

_“I think you’re bluffing about rigging my family’s house with explosives.”_

_“I don’t bluff,” said Aiden. “Now, get back to work. Kord’s next.”_

The audio faded out. “Shit. Call the police. Have them evacuate Susan’s house. I’m going in.” Oliver jumped out of the car and sped toward the building, knowing Dig would call and provide the eyes he needed for outside the perimeter. And that he’d be right by his side if he needed him.

The address Felicity linked them to put them in front of a modern looking home, nestled on the opposite of the road, separating it from the shore. There was a large building at the top of an incline then a smaller one off to the side. Lights flicked at the back of the smaller, closer unit. A large garage-looking portion jetted out from its front.

Oliver approached the building with caution. This was Felicity sending him here, so he trusted that this was not a mistake like last time. She seemed the type to always be on her game, too smart to be outsmarted.

As Oliver thrust his body quietly but swiftly through the blackened night, he heard Diggle’s voice spilling through the comm he had nestled in his ear, “Oliver?” Oliver stopped cold. He was about a yard from what looked like a side door to the garage-like section of the little house. “Craig says he has eyes on a high-end van heading our way registered to a Daniel Brickwell.”

“The underworld kingpin?”

“You watch too many movies, man,” Dig replied gruffly in his ear.

“Those are my father’s words,” said Oliver, scanning the building for windows or other means of escape once he got Felicity back.  The inky night sky made it a little tough to see, but he mentally noted the basics. “He basically controls the dark side of Starling.”

“Well, he or his goons are about ten minutes down the road.”

“Copy,” Oliver said, running toward the house where Felicity was. If Brickwell was involved, that meant anything could happen. That monster would kill Felicity without blinking. It also meant that what was going on was now crystal clear. Brickwell had been trying to take down his father’s company for years. He’d managed to destroy several other corporate giants in the past, but last Oliver had heard Brickwell had disappeared off the map. He was no longer a threat. Oliver had screwed up in a major way losing that contract for his father, but QC was still on solid ground. If Brickwell got his hands on it, it would be incinerated. Still, none of this mattered in the face of Felicity being in the clutches of someone like Brick. Aiden was clearly just his pawn.

Oliver slid through a door that led into a warehouse-style holding facility. A light filtered from a room several yards deep at the back of the building.

***

Felicity whipped her computer chair around to look at Aiden. “There. Done. Now will you please let me go…and stop threating my family?” She stood up, chest and chin high. Aiden smirked. His eyes flicked with a dark mischief she’d never seen before. 

“Felicity,” he purred, stepping into her personal space, “I think the two of us need to make up for lost time.”

“A half an hour ago, you thought I was a cold fish.”

“Maybe I want to test the theory,” he said, sweeping his tongue across the drying skin of his lip with a hungry gaze.

Felicity took a step back, trying to spot something to hit him with in her peripheral vision.

Aiden inched closer. “After we have a little fun, I’ll call my boss to make sure everything’s in order on his end, then I’ll shut down my little bomb collection over at Movie Star Mansion.” He sank his hand into the hair at the back of her skull. On instinct, Felicity turned and sank her teeth into Aiden’s wrist – hard. He flung her back. “You bitch!”

Felicity did not speak. Instead, she curled up her fist, ready to strike. Aiden lunged at her again, and she kneed him in the groin – it was the easier target. He curled up over.

“You want to play like that, do you?” he said, slipping his thumb on top of the detonator. Without a second of hesitation, he punched it. “There goes the little family nook.”

“NO!”

Before another move could be made by either of them, the door behind them thrust forward and landed in a heap on the floor.

“Stay the hell away from her!” Oliver lunged at Aiden his face fiercer than she could have ever imagined it could get. Felicity stumbled out of the way. Fists smacked jaws, flattened palms shoved torsos. Then they were on the ground rolling around. The sound of the warehouse garage behind them whirred and scraped as if opening.

She scrambled back over to the chair. It was now or never. Her fingers whipped across the keyboard, undoing everything she’d done for Aiden then threw up a series of the most in penetrable firewalls she could concoct. As soon as she was done, she turned around and noticed Aiden’s detonator and rolled from his fingers. She scooped it up and held it close to her chest. Two seconds later, Aiden head lulled to the side, his eyes slid shut.

“He’s just knocked out,” Oliver said, answering the question in her eyes.

"The house.  He set off a bomb."

"When?"

"Just before you came in."

"Diggle had them evacuate.  I'm sure they made it."

A lump of emotion gathered in her throat as a sigh mingled with adoration and relief tumbled from her chest. “You came.”

Oliver dipped his head a little. “Of course, I did.”

“Are the police with you?” Her eye flicked down to Aiden’s knocked out form. He’d rouse soon she had a feeling.

“No. Couldn’t risk it,” he said, taking her hand. She looked back at the computers Aiden had her doing his dirty work on. “Don’t worry about anything you did,” said Oliver. “We’ll fix whatever—“

She turned back to him and gave him a little smile. “It’s already done. I reversed everything when you two were boy brawling. But the kids, Oliver... Susan."

"Dig called and made sure they evacuated."

"Oh, thank God. I hope it was before...."

"I'm sure it was." Oliver tugged her close and slid his arm around her shoulders. “You’re amazing, you know that?” He buried his lips in her hair, then led her out.

***

Oliver and Felicity made it about halfway through the warehouse garage when Dig keyed into Oliver’s comm. _“A big van just pulled into the property. Alerted the police. Seems they were already on their way.”_ Oliver slid his arm from around Felicity’s shoulders and grabbed her hand. They were almost to the side exit when a large door at the back of the building burst open to reveal a line of five thugs dressed in black. In the middle, a man with a large jaw and round stomach appeared, chuckling. “Well, well, well… What have we here? Trying to steal my treasure, Queen.”

Oliver didn’t waste time chatting. He pushed Felicity behind the stack of six crates beside them—two sets of three, side-by-side, and nocked an arrow. His jaw set, his scowl fierce and targeted.

“The billionaire brat thinks he can get the best of us, boys. Isn’t that hilarious?” the big man guffawed. Felicity peaked through the thin crack between the two sets of crates.

“Something to write home about, boss,” a dopey looking man with a long beard piped in.

“Shut up,” Brickwell grunted. “I want that girl. How’s about a trade, Queen? I let your father keep his company, and the kid…what’s his name, Aiden, boy genius, and I will wipe out Kord. Maybe get back to you later. Then you give me the blonde.”

“Over my dead body.”

Brickwell laughed. “That way I get to have my Kord Industries and eat my Queen Consolidated, too. Can’t complain about that arrangement.”

Felicity’s eyes trained on Oliver’s back pocket. He had the super phone she’d programmed for him sticking out of it. Her heartbeat tripled. It could or couldn’t help them. The only way she could find out one way or the other was if she had it in her hands. She crept forward. “Oliver?” she whispered.

“Get back, Felicity.”

“I just need to get the phone.” She inched closer to Oliver, keeping her eyes on the phone.

“Damn it, Felicity.” The sound of guns being readied to fire filled her ears, but she remained focused on her task. She moved on step then two and snatched it then scrambled behind the crate, sweat beading from her temples. “You could have been shot!”

“You’re the one standing out there. Don’t give me that.”

“Trouble in paradise?” Brickwell taunted.

Felicity hit a few buttons and pulled up every inch of the warehouse. It looked like it was rigged with several things. The best of all… _Damn_. _This was perfect._ Now, all Oliver had to do was to lure the guys to the right spot and not be in the line of fire when she let the sandbags loose. Maybe easier said than done.

“You should have let me into your father’s company when you had the chance. We could have had a sweet deal,” the big man said.

“You’re a crook, Brickwell. My father would never let you anywhere near, QC.”

The older man let out a large belly laugh. He was getting more and more cartoonish by the second. Felicity would have snickered if she wasn’t so scared Oliver was about to riddled with bullet holes.  Then as if on cue, a slew of gun fire rang through the cavernous room. Oliver jumped back behind the stack of crates just in time.

“You okay?” he asked out of breath.

“I am okay?” _Really? Wow._ This guy really knew how to make her turn to goo sometimes.He looked at her, his expression far too much like a lost puppy for a situation like this.

“I’m fine. I promise. You?”

He nodded once.

“Look at this.” She pushed the super phone toward him so he could see the screen littered with the blue prints of the building, its booby-traps highlighted in orange.

His eyes sparkled. “You’re a genius.”

“I’ve been told that once or twice before.”

Without a second hesitation, Oliver turned his arrow up toward the rafters.  “The first lever?”

“Second. Don’t miss.”

He pulled then released the arrow. It clicked the lever hidden in the rafters, sending at least twenty heavy bags on top of the shooters.

“I never miss.”

They inched around the side of the crates. Oliver kept Felicity behind him. She let him. He was the one armed after all. They were all out. They inched toward the door and were nearly outside when Felicity felt a hand wrap around her ankle. “Oliver!”

Oliver turned around a shot an arrow into the guy’s hand. He screamed and writhed in pain. They looked up to see Brickwell heading toward them.

Oliver pushed Felicity outside then slammed the door shut behind her. “No!”

A tall man with huge arms wearing all black approached her. She let out a yelp, thinking he might be one of the bad guys from inside. “It’s okay,” the man said. “I’m with Oliver. John Diggle.”

Felicity bit her lip, still holding her hands up, heart pounding, eyes darting back to the door. “He closed the door on me. He closed the door.”

When John turned away from her and said, “get behind me,” Felicity relaxed a bit.

“I’m Felicity, by the way.”

“Oh boy do I know that.”  Felicity frowned. What did he mean by that?

Police sirens whining in the distance grew closer and closer.  Until several cop cars swept into the area. The door flew open, expelling a limping Oliver. “You’re shot.”

“Nope. Just hit my knee as I slid across the ground to get the right angle. I put him down.”

“Come on, the police are here.” Felicity pulled him toward the flashing lights.

“Stop! Put your hands up,” an officer called through a loudspeaker.  

“He’s hurt!” Felicity cried into the dark night.

“Felicity, just do as they say,” Oliver grunted as they all lifted their hands slowly into the air.

“Drop your weapons,” the officer instructed them.

Oliver dropped his arrow and quiver. Diggle lowered his gun to the floor. Felicity put her super smart phone down. “They probably think it’s an explosive device.”

Oliver smirked. “Good call.”

“I wish you could hold my hand right now.”

“Me too," he murmured.

“Step further into the light. Easy.”

Two cops rounded behind them, gravel crunching beneath their shoes, and picked up their weapons, when one of the police car doors swung open. “That’s my baby cousin. She’s the victim. And that’s Oliver Queen,” Susan’s voice pierced tense scene.

The police invited Oliver, Felicity and Diggle closer and assessed the situation far enough to realize none of them were a threat. “Think the guys you want are inside,” said Oliver.

Susan rushed over to Felicity and embraced her, kissing her cheeks and the top of her head like she was a little girl. “Sweetie, I was so scared.”

Felicity pulled away from her. “You were?”

“Of course,” she said, pulling her close, shooting Oliver a hard glare. “This is all your fault.”

“Susan, Oliver saved my life." Felicity straightened. "And they were after me anyway.”

“I know. I just…”

“Come again?" Felicity felt her eyebrow quirking up. "You know?”

When the police escorted Brickwell and his now conscious men followed by a feisty Aiden to the police van, Candy exited one of the cars, to Felicity’s surprise. “I told them everything, you little weasel.”

“You stupid, bitch,” Aiden hissed. The red-head spit at him.

“That’s enough, ma’am.”

“What? You’re just going to let her get away with that?” Aiden admonished. “And what about her? She’s the one who did all the hacking,” he shouted, chin jutting toward Felicity.

“Get in the back with your little pals, and shut up,” the officer said before tossing Aiden into the van and shutting the door behind him.

Felicity turned to her cousin. “What was that all about?”

“Candy was with Kord when we called and told him to evacuate his house,” Susan explained. "Apparently, Aiden had gotten her to slip in the Tree Line Service name, but she had  no idea what he was planning to do. When she found out, she left and went straight to Kord."

"And she didn't tell anyone about Aiden?"

"She was scared..." said Susan, nodding. "I know I wanted to kill her, too. She claims she knew they were okay and that Aiden was threatening her. The kids are safe. I'm not pressing charges against her."

"They'll probably give her immunity so she can testify," said Diggle, approaching them after finishing his official statement.

Felicity gasped. How could she have forgotten to ask? “Where are the kids?”

“With Thea and her rough around the edges but adorable little friend…”

“Roy?” Felicity lifted an eyebrow as relief flooded her. They were all safe.   _Thank God!_

“Yeah Roy. They're all safe at Oliver’s," explained Susan.

“Good,” said Oliver, slipping his arm around Felicity’s waist.

“Let’s give our statements and go home then.” He kissed her temple and breathed in her scent.  Susan cleared her throat, shifting uncomfortably, a smile perking up the corners of her mouth. Diggle chuckled.

“Yeah, let’s,” said Felicity, taking Oliver’s face between her hands and laying a soft kiss on his lips, not caring who was watching. Before he could respond, she pulled back, resting her forehead on his. “We make a great team, don’t we?”

“That we do, Miss Smoak.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos loved. Comments are amazing! So excited to get to the next chapter! Thanks for sticking with this story.


	13. Kick Back and Relax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's still summer and this fic is still going! I hope you are still enjoying it. Thank you for reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @thebookjumper and my team at Camp NaNoWriMo for helping me get this fic and some other work done in July. I got at least some really nice word counts in all over the place. Writing sprints, rule!

[ ](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

Susan, her kids and Felicity holed up in Oliver’s house for a few days after the insanity that was Aiden and his mobster pals. Though the repairs on Fitzpatrick home would take weeks, Susan’s contractor told them it would be safe for them to return to at the end of the day. They’d sectioned off the area Aiden’s little bomb had destroyed. Harlan would still tear up about it when she thought only Deville and Monroe were looking.  She’d lost her ant farm, her rocket launcher, and the special blanket she kept on the sofa in front of the TV. It had been a baby blanket replacement of sorts she liked to keep on the down-low. Her mother had no idea it existed, but Felicity paid enough attention to the kids to know about it. She never said a word. She knew Harlan would grow out of it in her own time. Now, that bastard had taken that away from her. If Aiden wasn’t already in jail waiting to stand trial for all his misdeeds, Felicity would have murdered him. Oliver said that it was a good thing he wasn’t free then, he wanted to keep her free and next to him. The sap.  So, since the smoke from the explosion and the wiring problems it had created were no longer an issue, the Fitzpatrick clan and their cousin would soon be heading home. As a goodbye, Oliver had set up a Queen summer estate style backyard barbecue.

“We have yet to have a minute ourselves this whole time,” Oliver whispered in Felicity’s ear as she stood a few yards out from the pool watching Susan teach her two youngest to swim.  She was in a white summer dress and he wore a form-fitted t-shirt and cargo pants.

“After we’re not all under the same roof,” said Felicity. Damn he smelled really good.

“Felicity this roof is huge,” Oliver complained.

Felicity grinned, shaking her head, avoiding looking in the eyes that would surely break her resolve. She wanted to be with Oliver, but right now as not the time. She wanted to save all the good stuff for later, take some slow time to get to know each other even more. Her mind was made up on the issue. “They’ll be gone in a few hours.”

“You mean, you’ll be gone in a few hours,” he said on a pout.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” she promised. “You’re taking me to lunch, remember?”

“Lunch on the beach, how could I forget?”

He lifted his hand to touch her bare back. A shiver danced up her spine then spiked into heated want.  “Oliver…”

“What?”

Felicity turned around at the sound of an obvious giggle, flushing deeply. Monroe wiggled her toes and giggled as she lounged on a lawn chair beside Thea both in their couture bathing suits – Monroe’s dark blue one-piece and Thea’s pink two-piece. Roy and Dig stood together at the Queen’s state-of-the-art barbecue grill side-by-side grilling like the champions they claimed to be. Felicity smirked. Oliver claimed he could cook circles around those guys. He kept whispering things like to her all week. But she held him off. She didn’t want to sneak into his room or keep her voice down. She wanted to be with him no holds barred. Not that she’d really ever been with anyone to that degree. And he was Oliver Queen. The whole idea was suddenly making her nervous. But they were together now—sort of. Was it even really official? He hadn’t said it anything, only implied, and _she_ certainly wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up.

“So, when’s Tommy coming home?” Felicity asked, trying to deter Oliver from embarrassing her too much in case people were listening.

“He always makes it back by the end of summer,” Thea piped in. Yep, they were listening.

“I think Tommy’s cute,” replied Monroe.

“Not cuter than Henry Lawson though, right?” Thea teased. It was Monroe’s turn to blush.

“Henry Lawson’s an idiot. I like Paxton Jones. He’s not a snob,” said Monroe. She seemed to have her priorities somewhat straight at least. Still, she was thirteen. She had no business worrying over boys so fast. Felicity hadn’t even had her first kiss until she was in college. But Monroe wasn’t a total spaz like she was – unfortunately. She had to make it a point to check in with her from time-to-time when she was no longer living under the same roof with her. But Susan seemed like she was making an effort. She turned down a film in Europe, selecting to work on an indie project that started in the fall in the city. The kids were already enrolled in school there. She’d be home most nights. It sounded like a good plan. Felicity might not have believed her, but after almost losing her kids, Susan’s priorities visibly shifted. It would hopefully last. Felicity really thought it might. She turned her eyes back to Susan helping Harlan paddle and blow bubbles while Deville did frog-stroked around them in a circle.

“My mom used to be on the swim team in high school,” remarked Monroe. “But she hasn’t swam with us since before my dad left.” Felicity hated that the kids had to go through such crap, but she was glad their mother was snapping out of the World of Susan Fitzpatrick a little bit.

“Well, I think it’s very cool,” said Thea.

“You know what?” Monroe said, sitting up. “I wanna do Lemonade with Lucy!”

“Well, you’ll have to help me make the lemonade then,” said Thea.

Monroe looked between Felicity and Oliver. “Ummm….”

“Go on, Monroe,” said Felicity with a little laugh.

“Ohhh. Now I get it,” said Monroe, jumping to her feet and giving Felicity a heavy wink. “Okay, we’ll go. See ya later, Oliver.”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “They make a fun pair.”

“Both spoiled,” said Oliver.

“Both sweet,” Felicity corrected him.

“Just like you,” he said, leaning over to kiss her. Felicity looked over Oliver’s shoulder at Dig and Roy cooking. They weren’t paying attention them. She let Oliver kiss her a little longer. She shouldn’t care. She hadn’t cared after the incident with Aiden, but that had been a high-octane situation. This was real life, and she needed to know what they were. She hadn’t talked anything over with Susan though she hadn’t really had anything to say on the matter since that night.

After a few minutes, Oliver and Felicity sat on the lounge chairs next to the two Thea and Monroe vacated. “We could share a chair.”

“You’re really too much.” They settled back. Oliver shut his eyes, looking more peaceful and at home than Felicity had ever seen him. Felicity continued watching her family swim. This was nice. This was the way things were supposed to be.

A few minutes later, the kids climbed out and ran inside. “We’re changing!” they announced in unison. Seconds later, Susan emerged from the pool looking glorious. Felicity looked over at Oliver to see if he was watching and found him side-eyeing her, amidst feigning asleep.

Susan settled onto the chair Monroe had left behind. “So, I don’t think we’re coming back to the Hamptons next year,” said Susan.

“What? Why?” asked Felicity.

“As you know, I’ll have the kids in New York for the year, but after that I’m taking them back to LA. The summer, who knows. Maybe London. I know Monroe wants to go to a con or something or other.”

“A convention. You know like Comic Con?” Felicity supplied.

Susan’s eyes grew big and she smacked the top of her head in a very un-Susan-like gesture. “Oh, that! Yeah, I always have to go to that. It’s so crowded.” She crinkled her nose.

“I think the one she wants to go will be smaller, but I’m not sure you should take her," Felicity explained.

“Why not? I’m trying to spend more quality time with my kids.”

“I think Felicity means that you’d attract unwanted attention. Maybe even distract from the main stars fans are coming to see," said Oliver.

Susan touched her chest in an overly affected gesture to reflect flattery. “Little old me? Well, I guess you’re right,” she said. “Maybe you two could… I mean if you’re still together. Or are you together. I’m not really sure what’s going on with all this.” She gestured between them.

Felicity's cheeks pinked. “Nothing’s going on.”

“Little cousin…Look. I’m fine with whatever it is you two want. Oliver and I were just a…I don’t know what we were.”

Oliver turned red this time. He looked like he was struggling to keep a strangle hold on the words he really wanted to say. Felicity was grateful. No matter how much grief Susan had given them, she wanted to keep the peace. After all they’d been through, they deserved it.

“I can see that whatever is going on here is coming from some place genuine. Don’t let that go. And on that note, I’m going to go change.” She got up and headed toward the house. But not before shouting toward Dig and Roy, “Lookin’ good, guys.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to join me on my chair?” Oliver waggled his eyebrows.

“Not completely sure. No.” Felicity reached over and grabbed Monroe’s book and hid behind it. What on earth was this girl reading?

Oliver smirked. “That’s good to know.”

***

If Oliver doesn’t get a little alone time with Felicity soon, he’s going to stick his fist through a wall. Not that he hasn’t enjoyed having the kids over. They’re great, but it’s time he at least had a talk with Felicity. He knows she wants to wait until their lunch tomorrow, but he’s not sure he can. He has a lot he need to say to her, and not just in the romantic sense.

“You know what movie I need to see?” Thea said, settling into the sofa cushions after serving everyone a round of lemonade. Oliver really thought that was a first, her serving anyone anything. Being around Felicity – and the kids -- really had changed them all for the better.

“What’s that?” Felicity asked. She was sitting knee-to-knee with Oliver. She had another thing coming if she didn’t think he was about to get his snuggle on once to show started.

“Wonder Woman,” said Thea.

“That’s not out until next summer,” said Felicity.

“I know, but we’ll get the director’s cut by December,” said Susan. “I told Thea I’d invite you all over for the holidays, if you want. We can do a sort of Christma-kuh.”

Felicity blinked. “You’d really do that for us?” Oliver was just as surprised as Felicity. It wasn’t like Susan to consider others. And he damn well knew watching a superhero movie she was not in would not be her thing.

Susan shrugged. “Why not?” 

They settled on the Lucy grapes episode. About halfway through, Oliver slipped his hand onto Felicity’s soft knee and started rubbing in circles.  He felt her look over at him, but he kept his eyes glued to the screen. When she didn’t remove his hand, he took that as encouragement. He stroked her skin up and down her thigh. The little sigh she expelled made the air in his lungs catch. Felicity’s entire body seemed to melt under his touch and she gave in, inching closer to him and finally settling into his arms. He buried his lips in her air, brushing them back and forth. “You smell good,” he murmured. What he really wanted to say was that he was in love with her. He knew it from the bottom of his soul. He’d never felt like this about anyone. He’d do anything for her. He wanted her in his life forever. But it was too soon for all that. Right now, he was content to just be with her – until they had their talk. He wasn’t going to propose marriage quite yet, but he did have a business proposition for her. He hadn’t been able to get it out of his mind since the morning after they’d taken down Aiden and Brickwell.

About three and a half episodes in, as they were watching Lucy’s fake nose being lit up like a cigar, the door bell rang. Thea, Roy and the kids were in the throes of enormous belly laughs while Susan sat, eyes glued to the screen, trying to contain her mirth. Dig sat their shaking his head from side-to-side, looking like he was enjoying himself too. Oliver and Felicity had been distracted by each other for the past half hour. “Should we get it?” Felicity asked.

“No, I’ll go,” Oliver said, extracting her from his arms.

Felicity poked out her lip.

He huffed out a laugh. She was so damn adorable. “Okay, we’ll go.”

She popped up beside Oliver, stretching herself like a cat. Scratch that, she was damn adorable and damn sexy.  “We’re going to answer the door,” said Felicity.

“Uh-huh,” was the general answer from the group.

Oliver looked into the security camera to see his parents standing on the door step. Oliver pulled the door open. “Mom? Dad? What happened to your keys?”

“We didn’t want to walk into any wild orgies,” Robert quipped.

“Robert!” Moira admonished her husband as they stepped inside. “We were simply trying to respect your privacy, dear?” She held out her hand for Felicity to take. “Moira Queen.”

“Robert,” Oliver’s father, extended his hand to Felicity.

Oliver couldn’t help but feel warm and proud inside. He tipped his chin up a bit and said, “Mom, Dad. This is Felicity. She’s my friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos are friendly. Comments are golden. I'm grateful for every reader and commenter. I think there will be another chapter or two after this then it's all done. Thank you again for reading and sharing your thoughts.


	14. An Offer... or Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert Queen has a few things to say. Then again, so does Oliver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of summer is here and so is the end of The Summer People! FINALLY. 
> 
> PS Sorry for the beta-less update again. I'll try to be better with my other story, Tinseltown. ;) Hope you enjoy this and thank you again for reading it and putting up with my very long breaks between updates. I appreciate it.

 

 

[ ](https://ibb.co/eZt2Sa)

“Ms. Smoak. Just the person I wanted to see. After I talk to my boy here,” his father said, pinning Felicity with a serious expression. Felicity looked just as confused as Oliver felt.

“What about?” asked Oliver, trying not to sputter. What on earth did his father have to talk her about? Did he even know her?

“In my study,” Robert shot the sharp command at Oliver.

“Sure, Dad,” was his reply though he wanted to admonish him for speaking to him like he was still a sixteen-year-old screw up. Oliver looked back and Felicity, half-hoping she’d come up with something to rescue him, the other half worried about leaving her alone with his mother.

“We’ll just be here for the day, darling,” Moira said as if able to partially read her son’s expression. “Your father won’t bite.”

Oliver stuffed his hands in his pocket and followed the older Queen down the hall.

“Now, Miss Smoak, why don’t you show me what you’ve all been up to today,” was the last thing Oliver heard before filing into his father’s office.

Robert marched over to his liquor cabinet and popped it open. He pulled out two tumblers and a bottle of old scotch. “Sit down, son.” He filled each glass with the amber liquid then passed on to Oliver.

Oliver hesitated, but curiosity got the better of him, so he accepted the glass and sank onto the leather sofa across from the wide window on the opposite wall. “What’s this about?”

As the older Queen opened his mouth to respond, a set of knuckles rapped on the door. He sighed. “Come in.”

A shiny blonde head with perfect make up popped through the door. “Sorry to interrupt. Oliver, I just wanted to let you know we’ll be leaving in about an hour,” said Susan.

Oliver shot to his feet. “Oh, I, um, so soon?”

“It’s almost five,” said Susan, coming fully into the room. Oliver put his glass down and stood.

Oliver did not miss his father’s appraisal of the nicely put together movie star – not that Oliver had really noticed this afternoon. Come to think of it Oliver stopped noticing anything other than Susan’s judgmental attitude since he’d met Felicity. Felicity. They were leaving so soon? “Right,” Oliver scratched the back of his neck. “Okay. I’ll see you before you leave. I just need a word with my dad.”

“Oh, so sorry. Susan Fitzpatrick,” she said, moving to shake Oliver’s father’s hand. Oliver did not miss the subdued smirk he gave her in reply. At least, he wasn’t openly flirting. “Nice to finally meet you.”

After exchanging the rest of their pleasantries, Susan slipped back out of the door.

Robert leaned back against his desk, arms folded, brows high. “Still latched onto the floozie of the week?”

“She’s an actress,” said Oliver. Why did his father always think the worst of him? But when Oliver thought about it, Robert Queen’s judgement went far beyond the children he sired. His heart may have brimmed with compassion some of the time but his mind was another story – it was sharp and ruthless. If he’d done something that might be considered morally wrong, he swept it under the rug, but when it came to others, he had very specific opinions on what he thought of them. He was a successful man, a man who’d taken his father’s well-to-do company and turned into a global empire. Sure, it was struggling a bit at the moment, but what he’d built on his own could not be challenged. To him, Oliver swam in a soup of mediocrity. Up until that summer, he’d really believed he would never live up to his father’s ideals. With Kord, he thought he’d get back into his good graces, but then, Felicity happened. It had been two days since the ordeal, and all he could think about was living a life away from his father – becoming his own man. And he had her to thank for that, really. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about it before, had plans lying in wait to roll out before his father, but the bravery, will and purpose – that had come with her. 

“I thought she looked familiar,” his father was saying. Oliver shook himself out of his haze and sat back down.

“What?”

“Your new girlfriend. I said, I thought she looked familiar,” said Robert.

“Yeah,” said Oliver then let, “And I’m not with her, I’m with Felicity,” tumble out of his mouth without thinking.

“Are you now?” Robert asked, surprise and a bit of amusement in his voice.

“I mean, I hope. I mean, I don’t know. I’d like to be,” Oliver sputtered.

Robert shoulders relaxed as he regarded his son. “You really like this girl, don’t you?”

Oliver’s lips quirked up in a little half-smile. “She’s … everything. A beautiful ball of sunshine in the middle of a raging storm.”

Robert laughed, boisterous, pleased. “You obviously like her. She’s turned you into a blithering sap.” He seemed to really like this bit of news.

“Thanks, Dad. I’m glad you approve.”

“Well, she’s closer to the type of woman I’d hoped for you,” he explained. “Your mother will probably disapprove since she’s not from one of her blue blood picks.”

“You don’t give Mom enough credit. She’s not as bad as you think.”

“Well, I didn’t bring you in here to discuss your mother. I have a proposal for you.”

Oliver knotted his arms across his chest and leaned back into the sofa. “All right. I’m all ears.”

“I want you back at QC.”

Oliver shook his head once, absolute, resolute. “I’m sorry, Dad, but I can’t.”

“Why not?” Robert tossed back the scotch he hadn’t bothered to drink until that moment and set the glass on his desk.

“Because I want to do something else. I want to stay here and set up shop with my friend John Diggle…and one other person if she’s interested.”

“May I ask what this venture is?"

“I think I’d rather let you in on it after we’re up and running.”

“It all sounds very mysterious, but if you’re committed to it—and it’s not illegal.”

“Of course, not.”

“What about capital? How are you planning to get started?” Robert pressed.

“I have a couple of investors lined up and what I don’t get from them, I can pull from my trust—within reason.”

“You sound like you have this all worked out.”

“I do.” He did except for one very important thing, but he wasn’t going to tell his father about it before he talked to her first.

“Then you have my full support.”

“Really?”

“Have you ever known me to kid when comes to matters of business?”

“Not at all.”

“Now, how about that super phone you and your young lady have perfected?”

Oliver tried to bite back the grin he felt forming. He was pretty sure he was failing. _His young lady._ Maybe a little corny and date, but it felt right. “That’s all yours. As long as we can use the tech, you and Kord can have at it. The contracts are all drawn up.”

“Well, I’m proud of you, son.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

Another knock filled the room. Robert’s eyebrows shot up. “Another one of your friends? Come in,” he said before Oliver responded.

This time it was Felicity poking her head in. Oliver’s heart swooped. Sometimes the affect she had on him nearly knocked him over. “Sorry to disturb you,” she said, her voice polite and sweet. “But the kids want to make sure you’ll be out to say goodbye. They’re getting antsy.” Her eyes locked with Oliver’s.

Robert looked down at his watch. “Your friend said an hour. There’s plenty of time. Miss Smoak, I wondered if I could have a word with you.”

“With me, sir?” she asked, sliding fully into the room.

“Yes,” said Robert before turning to Oliver. “If you don’t mind, son?”

“I’d rather stay, if I don’t mind,” said Oliver, folding his arms, eyes sharp.

“Oliver can stay,” said Felicity, stepping a little closer to him. Her being nearer relaxed him, and he released the tight breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“All right then,” said the older Queen, coming to stand in front of Felicity. “I’d like to offer you a position managing a major section in our Applied Sciences division. The salary would be double whatever you were making at Wayne.”

Felicity opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. Oliver felt just as stunned as she looked. Of course, Queen could do with a genius like Felicity. Hell, he’d go so far to say that her brain could turn the whole damn thing in the direction it needed to be in, but—he had an offer for her, too. Damn it. Felicity quickly found her tongue, “That’s a very generous offer, Mr. Queen, but—“

“Triple. We need a mind like yours at Queen,” his father said. Oliver’s fist curled into a tight ball. Of course, he was beating Oliver to the punch. Wasn’t that how it always was?

“Can I think about it?” she asked, catching Oliver’s eye briefly before looking down.

“Sure thing. But don’t take too long,” said Robert.

Felicity nodded and looked like she might head out of the room to think but stopped herself. “Actually, I have thought about it and…”

Oliver didn’t think should stick around a listen. He knew what her answer was going to be. He could hear in the smile in her voice. “I think I’ll go spend a few minutes with the kids.” Before she could finish, he walked out. He felt he’d been punched in the gut. He was being selfish. He needed to get himself together. He needed to show her he was proud of her.

Oliver found himself slipping back into the den where his house guests, sister and mother were. Harlan ran straight for Oliver and hugged him around the middle. Deville then Monroe followed. He needed a few hugs right now. He was about to lose the woman who very well might be love of his life…to his father’s business. Maybe he should take that offer, forget his fool’s mission. 

“I took his offer, Oliver,” he heard her say from behind. 

He extracted himself from the kids and turned to her.

“That’s great. You deserve it.” Felicity inched out of the room, gesturing with a flick of her fingers that he should follow. After making a few un-calendared promises for future archery lessons and well wishes for the kids at their new school, Oliver took Felicity's lead. She'd stopped in the hallway and was waiting for him, fingers twisting, which she stopped doing as soon as she looked into his eyes. He wondered what she saw there. Was he being too obvious? He needed to support her. Her fingers drifted to his forearm. He sighed. The slide of the pads of her fingers over his skin both soothed and tormented him. Was she trying to let him down easy? Had she just gotten everything she wished for and was ready to tell him it was nice getting to know him but this wasn’t going to work? Their afternoon together was just a one time thing, and –

“Oliver?”

“What? Sorry, you were saying you accepted his offer…”

“No, I was saying that I didn’t accept his exact offer. We settled on a tech liaison position. I’ll be working from home mostly or at a lab of my choice, developing tech.  I’m allowed an assistant, two if I want.”

“Oh! That’s good.”

Felicity cocked her head to the side as if trying to read him. “What’s wrong?”

Oliver’s shoulders slumped.  

“Oliver?” He marveled at the way her small hand fit around just half his wrist in her attempt to comfort him. He refrained from picking up the delicate fingers and peppering them with kisses. Instead, he turned his hand over and moved it up to take hers. The voices from the den and the fact that his father was just a few doors down, made him yearn for privacy for the hundredth time that day. “Will you go out on the deck with me?”

She nodded and followed him outside. They stopped at the railing that overlooked both the ocean and the grounds of the estate. “So, what is it, Oliver? Do you not want me to take the job?”

“No. I want you to do what you want to do. Whatever that is Felicity. You need to do it, but I wanted to offer you a job, too.”

Felicity’s eyes went round. She blinked a couple of times. “Um. Wow. Okay. Doing what?”

Oliver couldn’t help but smile a little at her adorable flabbergasted expression. He was still nervous as hell that she was about to laugh in his face, so he was sure the smile was little wobbly. “Helping Diggle and I with our private security firm, running tech, of course. We’d be in the field. I think you’d be a great asset. Keep our asses in line. That kind of thing.”

Felicity gasped this time.

“I’m in,” she said, smiling warmly at him.

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice cracking a bit with hope.

“100 percent.”

“Are you sure?”

“As crazy as it sounds – and as much as it doesn’t sound like anything I would have ever planned out in my life – I can’t imagine anything better. I’m cyber security. I’d be helping you. I can still do my remote job with Queen. And… we can be together….as friends or…”

The small smile he’d been wearing split into a cheek-stinging grin as he picked her up and twirled her around. When he settled her toes back to ground, arms still banded around her middle, he dropped his nose to hers, brushing it back and forth, reveling in the feeling of her. “I want to be with you Felicity. In every way possible. If you’ll have me.”

Rather than respond, she pressed her lips to his. Oliver’s heart thought it might burst it felt so perfect. He slid his hands up her back, over her neck and into her hair as he deepened the kiss. He’d never get enough of her taste. They kissed for a while longer before parting. “I think I’m falling for you, Oliver Queen.”

Oliver was a hundred percent sure that what sounded like a heard of wild horses galloping at full speed up the lawn was just his heart. “I…”

She looked down. “I’m sorry, I… You never said. I just.” She let herself slid back to her feet. He tipped up her chin.

“Why are you sorry? You just made me the happiest man on earth. I love you, Felicity. I just hope I can be good enough for, and—”

“Shh…” She kissed him again. He knew she’d have to go soon, but she was going to be with him, joining him on his adventure. God, he couldn’t wait. For now, he was going to enjoy the glorious taste of Felicity Smoak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I may add a mini-chapter / epilogue in it if people want a little smut or to see Tommy's reaction to them. If so, I will try to get it out by Monday. I might also make it a stand alone and tag as part of this series. Regardless, THANK YOU so much for reading and sticking with this story. I hope you enjoyed it. Happy summer. 
> 
> Kudos are kind. Comments are awesome!


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